1913
by LittleWhoMouse
Summary: Au Human Nature. The remote little village of Farringham was hardly the ideal place for Rose's car to break down. Edit: Reunion Story with a twist
1. Chapter 1

1913

The little village of Farringham was hardly the ideal place for her car to break down especially since finding a nearby auto repair shop was next to impossible in 1913. Rose kicked the wheel of her second-hand Sunbeam and huffed in disappointment. She should have known the universe was being too kind.

After leaving her friend, Nancy Beatrice Borwick the Baroness Croft, Rose arrived in Leominster with a need for a bit of an adventure. Playing Ms. Manners for over a week had nearly driven her insane despite Nancy's company. So instead of taking the train like any normal, rational person should have done, Rose, having stumbled across a man who was trying to sell a beautiful royal blue car, decided driving was a much better mode of transport.

All she needed was a driver.

The fates seemed to be on her side. Walter Thomas, a well-mannered fifteen year old, was the youngest son of four and happened to know how to use a stick shift. His father owned an apple orchard, but because of a late frost many of the fruit blossoms were damaged and the family had been forced to find alternative income. Happy to help the young man, Rose, after a quick test run to see if he was any good, hired him for what was supposed to be a lovely scenic three day trip.

After agreeing to meet early the next day, Rose went off to the general store to buy a few lumps of cheese, apples and few other hand foods. She didn't want to have to worry about finding a village pub if they were in the middle of a forest.

The next morning, Walter and Rose started their journey down the county of Herefordshire towards the Welsh border. The first day was lovely. They would stop and look at some ruins or take a stroll through some particular beautiful woodland just enjoying the peaceful countryside. However, halfway through the second day when the motor began to look as if it might explode, she realised she'd bought a lemon.

Rose leaned against the bonnet of the car tapping her foot and biting the edge of her thumb. She glanced across the field where Walter had gone to find someone to help and wondered for the hundredth time if she should have gone with him.

Hearing the jangle and clip-clop of a horse, Rose turned to look behind the car and saw Walter and a rather portly gentleman in farmer's garb coming along the path. Following them was a large chocolate brown draught horse with a heavy harness.

"Mrs. McCrimmon," Walter waved, "this is Mr. Clark. He owns the farm just over the hill and promised to help tow the motor to his barn."

Mr. Clark tipped the brim of his hat in her direction. "I have an empty shed I can put her in until you can have it repaired, ma'am."

"I'm afraid, sir, I may have to abandon it here," Rose said with a mournful sigh. "However, I will be grateful for any assistance you can offer. Who knows, maybe it just has a leaky pipe," she said with a hopeful smile. "In the meantime, I'm going to have to find some place for Walter and me to stay."

She turned her gaze to the young boy. "I'm so sorry for getting you into this mess. I'll pay you what you're due, but I think tomorrow you should probably head home. Even if the car can be fixed, it will probably take a few days."

Walter tried to argue with Rose, but it was obvious the boy was happy to be allowed to go home early with his generous pay.

Mr. Clark gently cleared his throat before he said, "If it's all right with you, Mrs. McCrimmon, my wife and I can put you and the boy up for the night."

Rose gave the man a rather large toothy grin. "Oh that's wonderful! Thank you so much, Mr. Clark." She gave a quick meaningful glance at the darkening sky. "Especially as it doesn't look as if the weather will hold much longer."

Walter and Mr. Clark harnessed the car to the horse and started to pull it across the field to a dilapidated shed hidden a few yards from the main house.

When they were close enough, Mr. Clark pointed Rose in the direction of his home and told her that Mrs. Clark would be happy to make her some tea while they put the car away. Before she headed down the lane, she grabbed her carpet bag from the slow moving vehicle.

"Don't worry about my trunk, Mr. Clark, my bag will have all I need for one night's stay," she said and then hurried to the house.

Mrs. Clark was a short skinny woman with soft brown curls and moss green eyes. After introducing herself and explaining the situation to her, Rose was led to a lovely yellow kitchen with a stone floor and thick wood beams above.

Despite the cheery warmth of the room, it was obvious from the stiff manner of her hostess that Mrs. Clark was not pleased with the arrangements her husband had made. Rose tried to put the woman at ease, but nothing seemed to work.

She was just beginning to think that finding a local Inn might be better when Walter and Mr. Clark ran into the mudroom just off to the left of the kitchen. They were soaking wet. _All right_, thought Rose, _I can handle one uncomfortable night_.

After a stifling dinner, she headed up to her room and began to get ready for bed. As she removed her blouse, her silver necklace with a battered Yale key, rubbed against the skin of her chest. Rose looked down at it. For a moment she could have sworn it shimmered with a soft golden light. She held the key in her hand and waited to see if it happened again.

_Get a grip, Tyler, he's not here_, she thought angrily to herself.

Disappointed, she placed the key on the night stand and finished getting change before curling under the heavy duvet of her bed.

That night she dreamed she was singing as she danced on stardust.

The next morning, Mr. Clark helped bring Rose's trunk to Mrs. Myers Inn, the only Inn in the village. The woman was far more pleasant than Mrs. Clark, and had a motherly air about her.

After she had finished arranging her room, Rose paid Walter and helped him find some transport home.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" she asked.

"I'll be fine, ma'am."

Rose fussed about with his scarf. There was something about the boy, perhaps it was that mischievous grin, which reminded her of her little brother. Even when he was old and grey, Tony would always indulge her habit.

"Ma'am?" Walter asked breaking her from her reverie.

"Sorry," she said as she gave him one last pat on the shoulder. "I was suddenly feeling a little nostalgic." She took a deep breath calming breath. "Well, you'd best be off."

"Thanks again, ma'am," he said doffing his cap to her.

After she waved goodbye to Walter, she went to the general store to place an ad for a mechanic. From what she had seen of this little village, she highly doubted she would be able to keep travelling with her motor. For a brief moment she wondered whether it would simply be easier to sell it as spare parts to local farmer. Deciding she was being entirely too pessimistic, she resolved to wait at least a few days before she wrote her car off.

With nothing else to do, Rose decided to make the best of the situation and explore Farringham. She was pleasantly surprised to find that it had semi-famous boarding school for local country gentlemen and, as a result, a rather lovely bookshop.

Mr. Newman, the owner and a vivacious reader himself, kept his shelves well stocked but a little disorganized. Rose suspected that the rather haphazard manner the books were placed had more to do with how the bearish owner ranked them than any sort of alphabetical order. From what she saw, the books closes to the store front (mostly poetry) seemed to be the ones Mr. Newman preferred to get rid of while those closest to the back were the ones he wanted to keep. Rose smiled when she noticed that quite a few in the back were of the science fiction genre.

Just as she was reaching for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's _The Lost World_, the gentleman who had been crouch down suddenly shot up. He knocked her arm at just the right point and with just the right amount of force that it caused her hand to bump into her nose. Briefly stunned, Rose didn't register the man who was babbling out an apology until his hand was clasped around hers.

"Professor John Smith," he said as he shook her hand with a little too much vigor.

"Mrs. Marion McCrimmon," she replied feeling slightly dazed. The man, who was suddenly shyly babbling again, looked exactly like the Doctor. Either he hadn't recognised her (she ignored the painful twist of her heart) or this was the Doctor's human doppelganger.

Deciding she needed to get to the bottom of this mystery, Rose rested her hand on his arm to gently get his attention. "How about you make it up to me by buy me some tea?" she said with her trademark cheeky tongue in teeth grin.

She heard John's quick sudden intake of breath as his eyes flashed towards her mouth. "Are, are-" He cleared his throat. "Are you sure, Mr. McCrimmon wouldn't mind?"

"Dr. McCrimmon is - " She stopped unsure how to continue. It felt strange telling the man whose alias she used that he was dead. "He's not -" She twisted the ring she used as her wedding band around her finger. "The Titanic," she murmured with dejection.

"Oh! I see. My condolences," he said resting a hand against her shoulder. Rose merely hummed in reply. "How about that tea? And maybe some cake?" Mr. Smith asked as he offered his arm to her.

With a grin, Rose looped her arm through his. "Do you think they'll have banana bread?"

She was sure the sparkle in his eye at the mention of banana bread was without doubt the Doctor's. _But why doesn't he recognise me? _she wondered. _My hair might be a little more brown but other than that I've hardly changed at all. Could it be amnesia?_

"Banana Bread? That would be quite a luxurious treat," he said and she noticed that the happy shine had been replaced with worry.

_Bugger_, Rose thought, _forgot how expensive they still are_. She gave Mr. Smith a flirtatious flutter of her eyes. "Don't worry. I was merely teasing you. I'm sure they have a lovely apple crumble."

This was all the push Mr. Smith seemed to need to launch into ramble about the small café's various sweets. Rose allowed her thoughts to wonder as she studied the strange man beside her.

She remembered getting stuck in San Francisco during the late Thirtieth century and meeting Dr. Grace Holloway. The spry grey haired old lady had briefly been the companion of the Eighth Doctor and she had told her of their bizarre meeting.

Her mind whirled with question after question. _Could this be a similar situation? Had he been injured and forgotten who he was? Would he, like last time, just suddenly remember again? More importantly, where was the TARDIS? This was hardly the ideal year to just leave the old girl._

The café turned out to be hidden at the back of the general store. Mr. Smith led Rose through the door into a small room with large windows looking out onto a garden and fields spotted with cattle just beyond it. There were five round tables, each covered with a red cloth and white lace. Mr. Smith pulled back a chair for her near one of the tables closest to the window and waited for her to be seated before joining her.

Just as she was about to speak, a young woman with red hair and wearing an apron over clothes came up to them. "How do you do ma'am, sir," she said with an awkward curtsy. "My name's Lynda Adler and I'll be serving ya - you," she quickly corrected.

The girl reminded Rose of herself when she was centuries younger. "Good day, Miss Adler," she said with a smile. "Mr. Smith was just telling me about all your lovely sweets. I believe I'm ready to order." She quickly glanced at Mr. Smith. "If you are, sir?"

"Oh, yes. Perfectly ready. Please after you," he said in that strange way that sounded like he wanted to say more but was forcing himself to stop.

"I believe after hearing about your apple and blackberry crumble, I'm going to have to go with that. Oh, and a pot of tea for us."

"Just tea for me, thank you, Miss. Adler."

After Lynda left, Rose turned back to Mr. Smith. "Are you sure you don't mind me ordering something to eat? Only my husband tended to moan about my shopping habits." She looked up at him through her lashes. She knew it was a dirty trick, but she'd missed lunch and really did want something to eat.

Mr. Smith gave a dismissive wave. "No, no, not all."

"Oh, good. I would hate to ruin a new friendship over a sweet," she said with a toothy smile. "So tell Mr. Smith, what is it that you do?"

He told her with a few prompts about his life as history professor and his mischievous students only pausing for breath when Lynda returned with the tea. All his memories of teaching at the boys' school sounded genuine. But Rose noticed that whenever he spoke of his life before Farringham, it sounded as if he were reading a script. She wondered if there was a connection.

"Now you know about me, Mrs. McCrimmon, but what about you?"

Before she could answer, Lynda came back with a warm apple blackberry crumble topped with a generous amount of clotted cream. "Oh this looks lovely. Thank you Miss. Adler." Unconsciously she licked her lips. She broke off a small piece with her spoon, making sure to get a bit of everything and took a bite.

The combination of tart apple, juicy berry and sweet cream caused Rose to moan in rather unadulterated manner. She blushed when she realised what she'd done and looked up into the dark chocolate depths of Mr. Smith's eyes. Quickly she swallowed. "I do apologise," she said as her cheeks burned red.

Licking his lips he said with a slight husk in his voice, "No need." He paused to clear his throat. "You like it then?"

"Oh yes," she said and tried to smile to put him at ease, but it only seemed to cause the tips of his ears to turn a little bit red. "Would you like some?" she asked holding out her spoon to him.

He shuffled slightly in his chair looking at the spoon as though she had just offered him a forbidden fruit. "No," he said looking back her eyes. "No, you enjoy it," he said as his cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink.

Rose giggled enjoying this strange flirtation. "All right, if you insist." She took another bite, but was careful this time not to let herself moan.

After swallowing another bite and a quick sip of tea, she spoke, "I believe it's my turn to tell you about myself." She pretended to ponder the question for a moment. "There isn't very much for me to say, unfortunately. My husband was the adventurer. Always traveling, never really settling down." She tried to recall what she remembered about her life with the Doctor. "I did travel with him for about two years, but after a bad run-in with some locals he decided I would be safer at home."

She turned her head and looked out with the window with sad smile. "He was always trying to keep me safe." She glanced at him from beneath her lashes. "Sometimes, I wonder if maybe I should have insisted he stay home a bit more. Maybe I could have prevented -" She broke her speech and looked back out the window giving a tiny shudder. Sometimes Rose even impressed herself with her acting skills.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered. He grasped her hand and gently rubbed his thumb across the back of it.

Even with her impossibly fussy memory, she remembered hearing those words so often that it was if they were the Doctor's mantra. _It must be him_, she thought.

Rose turned back to him. "It gets easier," she said and realised she meant it. "I'm fortunate that he was always good with numbers. Several investments he made turned out to be quite lucrative. So after my mourning period, I decided to travel around. I've just been exploring Scotland and England and was about to make my way to Wales when my motor broke down," she said with a slight pout.

"You've been traveling all this time on your own?" Oh how that question did funny things to her.

"I don't have any family. Out lived them all, I'm afraid. So, for now anyway, I'm alone. But who knows, maybe I'll meet someone who'd like to be my companion." She couldn't stop the cheeky grin she gave him. She wondered if the Doctor would remember her teasing comments. Rose gently extracted her hand from his and finished off her crumble.

Mr. Smith leaned back in his chair. "You sound like you're on way to being quite the adventurer." He looked towards the window with a wistful smile. "Sometimes I dream of what it would be like."

Rose smiled at him, finding the situation quite amusing. "Who knows, Mr. Smith, maybe one day you will." She paused and gave him a speculative look. "You wouldn't happen to know how to fix a car, would you?"

"Car? I'm not sure." He scrunched his forehead as pondered the question. "I've always been a bit of tinker, but a motor might be beyond me." He gave a helpless shrug. "I could always take a look. What model did you say it was?" he asked as a happy nervous energy seemed to infuse his body.

The twinkle in his eye and the way his fingers danced along the table top were almost identical to the Doctor's when he found a new invention he could meddle with. Rose bit her lip to stop from giggling at the sight. "A Sunbeam," she replied. "Although right now I feel it should be called a black hole."

"A what?" Mr. Smith asked with a bit of a laugh. "Black hole? That's a strange turn of phrase."

For brief moment Rose didn't understand what he meant. _Oh right! They haven't been discovered yet._ With a nervous giggle, she said, "Oh, just a silly expression James used to say when one of his projects went wrong. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by it."

"He sounds like an interesting gentleman," he said with a gentle smile. "I'm sure I would have loved to have met him."

She gave sudden a sharp "Ha!" at the idea of the Doctor meeting himself. "Knowing him, he'd be trying to prove how much cleverer he was then you." She chuckled quietly. "James was not perfect, no matter how I might make him sound. Indeed he tended to be quite arrogant. It could be hard to argue with him when he thought he was right." She looked out the window, lost in the shadow of memory. "Sometimes I think I let him get away with too much just because I didn't want him to leave me behind." With a huff, she shook herself out of the past. "Enough of this morose topic, shall we go see my car?" she asked as she hopped up from her chair and held her hand out to him.

Mr. Smith gave her an assessing look, before he nodded his head. He rose from his chair, placing down the money owed on the table as he did, before looping his arm with hers.

They'd just stepped out of the general store when Mr. Smith stopped with a click of his fingers. "Drat. I have evening duties." He looked down at Rose. "I'm afraid we'll have to put off our visit."

Rose looked up at him and an eyebrow raised in disbelieve. That had to be one of the crummiest excuses she'd heard in a long time.

Mr. Smith tapped his chin and looked to the sky as if it held an answer. "Not tomorrow either, but the day after I have the morning free." His gaze turned back to her.

Rose pulled her arm out from his. She knew it was perfectly rational explanation. He was a teacher and it wasn't like he could just bunk off work. But that old fear of being left behind clouded her reason.

Perhaps this man really wasn't the Doctor. Maybe she had just been forcing her own beliefs on him because he looked so much like him. The urge to run suddenly felt overwhelming.

"It's all right," she said with false cheer as she patted his arm. "I've put up an ad in the general store. I'm sure someone will come forth soon." She took a step back from him. "It's been -"

"Tomorrow night!" he suddenly shouted and seemed to take even himself by surprise. Clearing his throat he continued in a calmer voice. "We could meet up for drinks tomorrow night and you can tell me if you've had any luck finding a mechanic. If not, my offer still stands to have a look." He shuffled his feet, his cheeks were flushed, and he seemed to be fighting the urge to ruffle his hair.

She hesitated for just moment before smiling up at him again. "Tomorrow night," she agreed. "What time?"


	2. Chapter 2

~*~*~ Chapter 2 ~*~*~

The next morning, Rose awoke resolved not to treat Mr. Smith as if he were the Doctor. Aside from some similar mannerism and _really_ great hair, she had no evidence to suggest that he was anyone other than John Smith.

She tucked her TARDIS key under her coat and glanced at herself in the mirror. Satisfied with how she looked in her dark cobalt blue walking suit and white cloche hat, she picked up her gloves and clutch and left her small bedroom.

Just as she was passing the front sitting room, she heard Mrs. Myers call out. "Oh there you are, Mrs. McCrimmon. You're up quite late for these parts. It's almost noon," she said as she walked up to her.

"Sorry, Mrs. Myers. I'm afraid I was up half the night worrying."

"Poor dear. But there's no need to fret about your car, I've got that all sorted for you," she said with a cheerful smile and handed Rose a letter. An opened letter, she noticed. "The dairy farmer, Mr. Gardner, left a note with the milk this morning. His son William is quite handy with motors. Why just last week he fixed Mr. Collins tractor for him." Mrs. Myers place a hand on Rose's back and gently began to steer her towards the kitchen.

"I hope you don't mind, but I sent a letter on your behalf saying you'd let the boy have a look," she continued. Rose removed her hat and took a seat at the table. "I didn't promise him the position. Just said that you'd be all right with him seeing if he could fix it."

"Thank you, Mrs. Myers. You're very kind," Rose said with a soft smile.

She watched as the woman fluttered about the kitchen, putting on the kettle and gathering various items from the pantry; bread, cheese, jams, and apples.

"You'll not want a cooked breakfast, will you?" Mrs. Myers asked though it sounded more like a command.

"Oh no, this will be lovely," Rose said and reached for an apple and some cheese.

Mrs. Myers pulled out a chair and sat down. "As I was telling you, I didn't promise him anything, but I did write and say he could come round in-" She glanced at the clock by a tall oak cabinet. "About an hour's time. He's a sweet young man, but he has had his share of hardship." She paused when the kettle began to whistle and got up to make a pot of tea.

"Two years ago we had a bad winter and his sweetheart, Abigail Cartwright, passed away from pneumonia. Poor lad," she said as she placed a cup down in front of Rose and sat back down. "He's not looked at another girl since. I think most the ones round here remind him too much of Miss. Cartwright. Maybe he just needs someone new."

Rose nearly choked on her drink. She had not had to deal with a match-making mama since Jackie had passed away. She knew of only one way to deter such schemes and that was to offer another target.

"Oh, Mrs. Myers, that reminds me. Yesterday, I met Mr. Smith the history professor at the boy's school. He was awfully kind to me and we made arrangements to meet again this evening." She gave the woman a shy pleading look that had never failed to work on her mother. "I hope you don't mind but I offered to have him here for drinks after dinner. Since women are not allowed in the pub and the café in the general store closes at six, the only other place we could have met was in his rooms. Highly improper, don't you agree?"

"Highly improper indeed! Yes, of course you can meet him here. I'll make sure to tidy up the front sitting room and have a pot of tea prepared for you." She fidgeted with her cup before reaching out and gently grasping Rose's hand. "It might not be my place to say, but I do feel I should warn you. I have heard it said that the school nurse, Mrs. Redfern, has taken quite a fancy to him. I don't know if anything has come of it. But don't be too hasty forming any attachments," she said patting Rose's hand. "After all, another might end up taking your fancy."

After delivering a letter to the school to tell Mr. Smith that Mrs. Myers had given her consent, Rose returned to the Inn to meet Mr. William Gardner.

As she neared the B&B, she noticed a young man with floppy sandy blonde hair slouched by the door.

"Hello," she called to him. "Are you the young Mr. Gardner?"

The boy straightened himself up and pulled on his cap. "I am. And you are, Mrs. McCrimbon?"

He was much taller than Rose had thought he would be and also much younger. _No more than 20 at least_, she thought. "Mrs. McCrimmon, yes, that's me."

"Ah, sorry, ma'am," he said with a bashful smile.

"It's fine, it's fine," she said with a wave of her hand. "Are you sure it's all right for you to help? I would hate to think I was taking you away from anything important."

"Not to worry, ma'am, I finished all the chores that I needed to do and as long as I'm back by four o'clock the cows will never know I was gone," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh good. Shall we be off then?" Mr. Gardner offered his arm to her and together they began to stroll down the path towards Mr. Clark's farm.

Starting a conversation with the young man took a few starts and stops, but they eventually found their stride. She learned that Mr. Gardner was in fact eighteen years old, had a soft spot for poetry, and was a self-taught botanist. And nowhere near as heartbroken as Mrs. Myers had made him out to be.

"So how is it that you know so much about motors if you were busy studying plants?"

"My uncle's a mechanic. He works for Wolseley Motors in Birmingham. Most weekends, he comes down to visit us, and he likes to show me what he's been doing." He shrugged his shoulder. "It's actually quite interesting."

"You're incredibly modest for a genius," she said with a tongue-in-teeth smile.

"I wouldn't go calling myself that, ma'am," he said with a laugh.

"I once knew a man who thought he was the cleverest being in the universe. He could learn a thing or two from you, Mr. Gardner."

As they neared the shed, a young woman on a bicycle hurried passed them. Rose whipped her head around and stared after the girl. For a moment she could have sworn she heard her mutter, "Daft alien git."

"That's just one of the maids from the school," Mr. Garden said. "I think she came with the new teacher." He paused and furrowed his brow. "I'm afraid I can't recall his name at the moment, but it's a very common name."

"It wouldn't happen to be Mr. Smith, would it?"

"That's it," he said with a bright smile. "I've heard that he and Mrs. Redfern, the nurse at the school, are courting. She's a good woman and I'm sure she'll make him a fine wife."

Rose merely hummed in reply. If John Smith really was just an ordinary human, then it would be wise for her to end things tonight. _But if he's not, then who is this Mrs. Redfern to him? She's been here too long to be his companion. The maid on the other hand…_

She nibbled on her bottom lip. Rose had not lied to Mrs. Myers when she said she'd been up most of the night worrying. If it was the Doctor and she helped him regain his memories, what did she want to happen next?

After nearly a century of travelling by herself, she found she did not mind being on her own. It was not as if she was friendless in this universe. Why just last month she'd been playing a game of chess with the Face of Boe. And the whole reason she'd come to 1913 was to visit Nancy and see her new baby girl. Unlike the Doctor, she did not mind seeing her friends _wither_ because she had learned how much it hurt when you missed the chance to say one last goodbye. After Jackie had passed away, she swore to herself she would never again run from death.

Running from her problems, however, seemed like a fantastic idea. Part of her wanted to take her vortex manipulator and jump to another planet. Unfortunately, her manipulator had fizzled after her arrival in this time. Luckily, all the other functions were working. She just needed the energy from the rift in Cardiff to help jump start her manipulator much like one would jump start the battery of a car.

When they were finally in sight of the barn, Rose noticed Mr. Clark leaning against the bonnet of her Sunbeam and called out to him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Clark."

"Good afternoon, Mrs. McCrimmon, Mr. Gardner," he said tipping his hat to them.

"Afternoon, sir. Thank you for pulling out the car from the shed."

"I remembered what your uncle said about needing plenty of light for this sort of work. And despite some of the holes in the roof," he said pointing a thumb towards the old stone barn, "I doubt it be enough for you to see by."

Mr. Gardner popped open the hood of the car and Mr. Clark joined him. They soon became engrossed in their task leaving Rose with her thoughts.

Unconsciously, she began to play with the chain of her necklace and pulled it from its place hidden under her coat. Her hand grazed her TARDIS key. Despite the brightness of the day, there was cool wind, but her key had felt unnaturally warm. She held her breath as she cupped the key in her hand and slowly looked down at it. It shimmered with a soft golden light.

Her mind raced. _Had that maid been visiting the old girl?_ She looked around. There was some woodland bordering Mr. Clark's farm. _Maybe the TARDIS is hidden among the trees. Or maybe…_Rose casually moved to entrance of the barn and leaned against the doors.

Even with the front doors being open, it was still quite dark inside the shed. Then she noticed some light coming in from the back entrance. The door had been left slightly ajar. As if someone had been in a hurry to leave and hadn't had time to close it properly. Her eyes swept across shadows. She felt her heart begin to gallop when she finally spotted her. Despite only being able to see the light on the roof from behind a large pile of hay, Rose knew without a doubt it was the Doctor's beloved ship.

"Mrs. McCrimmon?" She gasped in surprise and whipped her head back towards Mr. Gardner. "Sorry, ma'am, didn't mean to startle you."

"Quite all right, Mr. Gardner. I was just daydreaming," she said with a tight smile.

"I was just saying to Mr. Clark," he said gesturing to the farmer, "that I won't be able to do much without certain parts. We'll have to go to the General store to order them."

"But it can be fixed?"

"I think so, ma'am. But it will take a day or two before the parts are in and I can begin repairs."

"Yes of course. Shall we be off then?"

"I'll just help Mr. Clark put the car back and we can go, ma'am."

"Oh yes," she said turning to Mr. Clark, "thank you so much for keeping it here. I hope it hasn't been an inconvenience."

"Not at all, Mrs. McCrimmon," he said tipping his hat to her. "I don't use this shed much anymore and have been meaning to take the old thing down."

She smiled at him and then moved aside as the men pushed the car back into the barn.

Mr. Gardner came up beside her and offered her his arm. She took it and together they said their farewells to Mr. Clark before heading back towards the village.

Their trip was much quieter than before. Rose's mind was too busy leaping from one question to another. Knowing the Doctor, his memory loss was likely part of something bigger. She would have to be prepared.

"Mr. Gardner, I don't suppose after we finish here, I might keep you a bit longer?" Rose asked as they neared the General store.

"As I said ma'am, I'm free until four o'clock. Is there something else you needed me for?"

"Well, if I am to be here for the next few days, I'm going to need to do something to keep myself entertained and I'm rather fond of walking," she said with smile, "I don't suppose you could give me a tour of Farringham? Only a local such as you will likely know all the best spots."

Mr. Gardner returned her smile. "I would be delight, Mrs. McCrimmon," he said before his stomach suddenly growled.

Rose laughed. "Shall we also have picnic?" she asked as watched the young man's face turned red. "My treat," she said giving him her tongue-in-teeth smile.

"Tha – that's very kind of you," he stuttered trying to cool his burning cheeks.

"Excellent! You sort out the parts and I'll sort out the food," she said with a cheerful grin. _And when the time comes to run, I'll at least know the lay of the land._

When he was five years old, Mr. Gardner had developed a love for botany and as a result had spent a number of years exploring every path there was in the woodlands around Farringham. He showed Rose the well-worn trails, some of the secrets paths, but most importantly he showed her the shorts cuts.

After waving goodbye to the young Mr. Gardner, Rose ran through the forest and didn't stop until she saw the back entrance of Mr. Clark's old barn. She leaned against a tree, her eyes fixed on the door, and tried to catch her breath.

She walked towards the shed. Both fear and excitement thrummed through her body. With a shaking hand she unlatched the door and entered. There she was. That brilliant beautiful blue box. Reverently, Rose ran a hand along the outside before finally pulling out her key and unlocking the door.

The TARDIS was almost completely dark except for a small bit of light shining from above the rotor. But it was the noticeable absence of the TARDIS hum that really worried Rose.

She walked up the ramp and placed a hand on the console. "Hello, old girl," she said with a soft sad smile. For a moment, the rotor lit-up and briefly moved. "Don't suppose you could help an old friend out, could you?"

"This thing working?" said the Doctor followed by a tapping noise. Rose quickly dashed to the monitor. "Martha, before I change here's a list of instructions for when I'm human." She reached out and touched the screen tracing the outline of his face with her fingertips. "One, don't let me hurt anyone. We can't have that, but you know what humans are like." She took a few deep breaths to try and calm her heart. Until this moment she had not realized just how much she'd missed him. "Two, don't worry about the TARDIS, I'll put it on emergency power so they can't detect it, just let it hide away. Four- no, wait a minute, three. No getting involved in big historical events. Four-"

As much as she wished she could just stand there and watch him, she needed answers. Rose twisted the dial to fast forward. She knew how much he liked to ramble. _He probably even goes into a rant about pears or is it peaches?_ When she neared the end, she stopped. He always saved the most important things for last.

"And twenty three. If anything goes wrong, if they find us, Martha, then you know what to do. Open the watch. Ev-" the screen suddenly turned off. She tried flicking switches and turning dials to get the video started again but nothing worked.

Rose slumped down into the jump seat and put her head into her hands. _Okay, so he and Martha were being chased and for some stupid reason he turned himself human which apparently caused him to lose memories. But what does any of this have to do with a watch?_ She pinched the bridge of her nose and felt the beginnings of a terrible headache. There was only one person who could answer any of her questions and unfortunately Rose would have to wait until tomorrow to seek her out.

She stood up and gave the TARDIS once last gentle pat on the console before she left. She needed to get ready for date with the human Doctor.

Rose twisted and turned in her burgundy velvet dress with chiffon neckline and beaded metallic-thread embroidery. It was one of her plainest evening gown and she hope it would be suitable for drinks. She wasn't entirely sure what the proper protocol was in this situation since they would not be dancing, nor having an evening meal together. _Perhaps I should change into a tea gown._

Looking at her trunk of clothes, she groaned and decided that choosing a dress was the least of her problems. She quickly re-did her hair into a Gibson tuck and then left her room.

As she was coming down the stairs, she heard Mrs. Myers and the – Mr. Smith talking. She reminded herself once more that this man believed he was human. Until she found out why the Doctor had changed, she would have to play along with this farce.

"Good evening, Mrs. Myers, Mr. Smith. I'm not late am I?" she asked as she strolled into the sitting room.

"Oh my! You do look lovely in that gown," said Mrs. Myers.

"In-indeed you do," stuttered Mr. Smith as he rose from his seat and walked over to her. Rose held out her hand and he took it in his before politely bowing over it.

"I'll just go get that pot of tea then, shall I?" Mrs. Myers said before she disappeared towards the kitchens.

"Shall we sit?" Rose asked suddenly feeling as nervous as school girl on her first date.

They took a seat on the velvet brown sofa. It was much smaller than Rose had thought and when they turned to face each other, their knees almost touched.

Knowing he was the Doctor suddenly seemed to make her hyperaware of him. _Get a grip, Tyler, you're almost 200 years old for goodness sakes. _

"I'm sorry to inform you, but I seemed to have found a mechanic. Mr. William Gardner."

"Oh? Are you sure he's any good?" he asked with a touch of jealousy.

Rose smiled at him. "Mrs. Myers recommended him. He was trained by his uncle, who works for Wolseley Motors. And he's fixed some of the tractors for the local farmers." She noticed the way his hands clenched against his thighs. He never did like her talking about some other pretty boy. "We went to see the car today and apparently I am to be stuck here for at least two more days until the spare parts arrive," she said giving him a mischievous smile.

He returned her grin. "Oh that's brilliant! Well, I don't mean – that is to say – not brilliant for you -" he stuttered as he tried to cover his mistake.

"I think it's brilliant too," she said as she leaned towards him and placed her hands over his.

The tip of his ears turned red and he looked at her with wide brown eyes. Suddenly realizing how bold she was being for woman in this time, her cheeks flushed and she quickly moved back to her spot just as Mrs. Myers returned.

"Here you are. A nice hot pot of tea for you and I've added a few biscuits. Made them fresh this afternoon," she said with cheerful smile at Rose, though it seemed to turn a bit frosty when she looked at Mr. Smith.

"They smell wonderful. Thank you, Mrs. Myers."

"Well, if that's all you need, I think I'll turn in," she said giving Mr. Smith on last narrowed eye look before leaving them.

"I don't think she likes me very much," he said nodding his head towards the door.

"I'm afraid it's because you're not the one she choose." When he gave her a questioning look, she continued, "She's a bit like Jane Austen's _Emma_ and likes to be right about which couple she matches." She reached for the tea pot and began to pour. "When she told me about Mr. Gardner, well he didn't come with just a working reference."

"Should I be concerned?"

"Why should you feel the need to be concerned?"

"I thought I, we-" He moved his hands back and forth between them.

Rose looked at him with a tongue-in-teeth smile. "I still call him Mr. Gardner for a reason, Mr. Smith."

"John," he whispered but then said more clearly, "You may call me John."

"And you may call me Marion."

She picked up his tea and a few biscuits, and handed them to him. When she settled back onto the settee, she edged her knees a little closer to his.

For the next hour, Rose told John about her day and he in turned spoke about his. He still had the Doctor's tendency to ramble and they sometimes ended up debating points in history or literature.

"I had to take over for one of the English classes today. Mr. Pertwee has unfortunately caught that dreadful cold that is going around the school." He shifted his knees closer to hers. "His students had to read Jules Verne's _To the Moon and Back._ It's perhaps a bit fanciful, but it sparked a lively discussion among the boys. I was surprised that quite a few of them thought we may one day reach the moon. Silly, isn't it?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that. Look at how far aviation has come since the Wright brothers' first success in '03. Perhaps once we've conquered our skies, we'll move to take the heavens," she said with a knowing grin.

"Do you really believe space travel might be possible?" he asked as he gazed at her with wide shining eyes and a nervous excited smile.

She felt her breath catch. All night she'd been careful to _see_ John Smith. But in that moment he had looked so much like her Doctor. It felt like such a silly thing to cause her heart to skip when there had been countless other gestures. Perhaps it was because the last time she remembered seeing that look was before they had stepped out onto Narthu to watch the flying manta-rays and she had promised him forever.

"Marion?"

"Yes, I do believe it's possible," she said breathlessly.

"I-I sometimes have these dreams," he said with a shy bashful look. The fabric of his trousers rubbed against her dress. "I dream I'm traveling among the stars in this…in this…this strange blue box," he said with a nervous laugh. "I don't know how to describe it all without sounding mad."

"Is this box very large?" she asked and bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling.

"From the outside it's about the size of a telephone booth, but the inside is much larger. There are hundreds of rooms; a pool, five libraries, gardens with such strange plants."

"A box that is bigger on the inside? How fantastic!" she said and closed the last little gap between their knees. She watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest before glancing at him from beneath her lashes. "Do you travel on your own?"

They each placed a hand down in the spot between them. "N-no," he said breathlessly as his gaze flicked back and forth between her eyes and her lips. "I travel with all manner of people. I travel with-" The sides of their hands touched as they leaned in a little closer. "I travel with-" He suddenly pulled back. "I travel with a robot dog. Though for some reason I always seem to lose him," he said with a chuckle and she politely laughed with him.

For a moment, they sat in awkward silence as they tried to cool their blazing cheeks and catch their breath.

Finally John spoke, "My life isn't nearly as remarkable as my dreams, but I did have a bit of a misadventure today."

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, fine. I was lucky Nurse Redfern was there to make sure nothing more than my ego took a tumble down the stairs." He shifted nervously. "Actually just before I fell, she happened to be telling me about the village dance tomorrow," he said and Rose had to bit her lip to keep from laughing. _Well that's a new avoidance tactic. _From what she remembered of the Doctor, he did have a habit of unintentionally flirting with people. It had often gotten them into trouble. _Perhaps that's all there is between him and this nurse. Just little harmless flirting. _"But I thought…that is to say-" He stood up as he cleared his throat and then held out his hand to her. "Would you do me the honour of being my guest to the village dance tomorrow night?"

She smiled at him with her tongue between her teeth. "Do you dance, John?"

"Well I, I think so," he said shifting his feet from side to side.

She placed her hand into his. "Then I think before I say yes, you should show me your moves," she said and stood up.

"But, but -"

"Trust me."

She placed one of his hands on her hip and took the other in hers. Together they began to sway back and forth. Rose subtly guided him and made sure they didn't bump into any furniture. She rested her head against his chest. Closing her eyes she listened. For a while when they were talking, Rose had stop _seeing_ John Smith. But the thump of his single heart was a painful reminder that, despite his dreams and looks, this man was not her Doctor. Eventually they slowed to a stop.

"Not bad, John. I may just take you up on your offer."

He leaned in to kiss her, but Rose moved her head so his lips grazed her cheek. There were some lines she could not to cross with him.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly feeling stiff and awkward in her arms. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't -"

"It's all right, John," she said with reassuring smile. "It's just a little soon."

"Yes, right." He moved further away from her. "I should probably be heading back to the school."

She touched his arm. "We have time, John. There's no need to rush."

"I know. I know we do, of course." He said and stepped closer to her. "It's just sometimes," he paused as he hesitantly raised a hand and skimmed it down the edge of her arm. "I swear I've always known you and it makes me so confused." He took her hand and Rose felt her heart twist at seeing how perfectly they still fit. "Part of me just wants to hold on to you because I-" his voice cracked and he took a deep shuddering breath. His hand squeezed hers. "I'm sure you're going to disappear. That you being here is impossible."

She slid her hand out from his and wrapped her arms around him. "I'll be here. I promise," she murmured against the shell of his ear as she rubbed his back. He pulled her tighter against him as though he wished for her to become a part of him.

When his arms finally began to relax, she gently pulled away. He collected his coat and they walked to the front door. They hugged one last time, before saying their goodbyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow after lunch, right?" John asked.

"Yes, of course," she said with a laugh. "And I promise to show you some of those secret paths."

"Goodnight, Marion," he said tipping his hat to her.

"Goodnight, John." She watched him until he disappeared into the shadows before turning back into the Inn.

A flash of green light streaked across the sky.


	3. Chapter 3

_Martha and Rose were driving me nuts. Luckily I have an awesome beta who keeps me sane during this whole process. Thank you to everyone who favored or reviewed! Enjoy ^_^ _

Chapter 3

Rose patted her hand across the top of her bedside table searching for her watch. Through the window's thin pane of glass, she could hear the dawn chorus; robins, wrens, chaffinch and few others. Their songs blended into a cacophony of sound that made it impossible to fall back to sleep. She flopped back on to her pillows and squinted as she looked up at her watch. It was barely four thirty in the morning. Her mind had been churning all night and she knew it would be a useless endeavor to try and sleep again.

With a long suffering sigh, she tossed back her covers and immediately regretted it when the cold air suddenly wrapped around her. She quickly rolled out of bed and started rubbing her arms as she padded across the cold wooden floor to her trunk.

Opening her case, she looked through her clothes and chose a simple ecru lace blouse and a light pink silk and wool box-pleated skirt with matching jacket. After a quick wash with the icy water in her basin, Rose changed into her clothes.

As she stood in front of her mirror twisting her hair up into a bun, she noticed the dark circles under her eyes. She knelt down by her trunk and felt along the side until she found the small button that opened its false bottom.

Travelling back and forth between time periods without a TARDIS meant Rose constantly had to leave her clothes in storage. And sometimes she found it easier to leave certain futuristic products like her thirtieth century cover up make-up hidden within.

After finishing the final touches and pleased that she no longer looked like a raccoon, she put on her taupe wide brim hat with pink grosgrain ribbon trim and large silk rose.

Realizing Mrs. Myers might wonder where Rose had gone, she picked up her carpet bag from underneath her bed and began to search through it for a piece of paper and a pencil. Unsurprisingly they were at the very bottom of the bag. Tearing out some paper from her journal, she jotted down a few quick lines and then left her room.

She went downstairs and into the kitchen where placed her message under a tea cup on the table before slipping into the pantry. Rose wasn't surprised to see the large number of cider bottles in Mrs. Myers's larder. By the twenty-first century, Herefordshire was quite well known for its apple cider and Perry pears drinks. Jackie and Bev had once gone the county's famous cider route tour and when they came back...the party didn't finish until four. Not feeling terrible hungry, Rose only took two apples and then left the little inn.

A thin line of sunlight was just beginning to spill across the horizon as Rose started her walk up the frosty path towards Mr. Clark's farm. She had wanted to visit the school first thing but hadn't anticipated being up before the roosters. With nothing to do but wait until a more suitable visiting hour, she decided to head towards the TARDIS and see if she could get the old girl to play the last part of that video.

Just as she turned the corner to head for the back entrance of the barn, a bicycle slammed into her.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry," said a young woman with a strong London accent.

Rose looked up at her with a large toothy grin. It seemed providence was on her side. "Martha," she practically sang as she hopped up from the ground. "You are, Martha, aren't you?" she asked her hand already wrapped around the other woman's.

"Y-yes," she said with a cautious smile. "And who might you be, miss?"

"Oh, I'm an old companion of the Doctor's," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Doctor? Doctor w-"

"Please don't say it," she interrupted with a groan. "I swear everywhere we went someone would always say it. He didn't believe me when I told him how ridiculous it was, so I put one of those swear jars in the kitchen. Last I remember, I was quite the wealthy woman." When Martha didn't smile, Rose felt her heart sink a little. "No more swear jar in the kitchen. All right, how about this?" She reached for her silver chain and pulled out her TARDIS key.

Martha visibly gulped as she reached for her own. The two keys glowed with a soft golden light. "Who are you?"

"Like I said an old companion. Honestly, I don't know how many years it's been since he last saw me. Time travel," she said as she shrugged her shoulders. "And unless he's changed his habits, it's very unlikely he's mentioned me. I remember I only found out that were more of us when we quite literally bumped into Sarah Jane during one of our adventures," she said with a roll of her eyes and a small breathy laugh.

"Sarah who? The only one he ever mentions is Rose," Martha said with a bitter jealous tone. "Suppose I shouldn't be surprised to hear there's been a whole string of us."

Rose stared at Martha in shock suddenly realizing she may have over looked a very important detail. "You love him," she stated with a dazed acceptance. "Of course you do. Hard not too, really." She been so busy worrying about Mr. Smith and that nurse, she hadn't even considered what the real relationship between the Doctor and Martha was. She just assumed it was the same as all his other companions. _But then there are always exceptions to the rule…like Grace Holloway._

From the way Martha had spat her name, things didn't sound like they were going very well for the young woman. _Then again, relationships were never the Doctor's strong suit. I'm still not even sure what we were._

"My feelings for him aren't any of your business," Martha snapped standing tall and trying to look stern, but the colour on her cheeks gave her away.

"Right of course, sorry. And not really important right now, yeah?" she said with a tight smile. It would be hypocritical of her to begrudge the Doctor any potential romantic liaison since she hadn't exactly been chaste. But the thought that she could end up playing the tin dog, as Mickey used to call it, settled like a heavy ball of lead in her stomach.

"I'm Rose, by the way, but apparently you already know about me," she ignored the startled questioning look Martha gave her and carried on, "so we can skip that bit and get straight to important stuff. Starting with why the Doctor turned himself human."

"You're Rose? The Doctor's Rose?" Martha asked looking at her as if she were some sort of incredible specimen.

"Yup," she said popping her 'p'. "Look I don't know what he told you about me, but –"

"Yeah sure, you just want to know about the Doctor," she said as she hunched her shoulders. "Can we walk and talk? I still need to get back to play my part as the maid," Martha said with a mock curtsy and then picked up her bike and began walking down the path.

Rose wanted to bang head against a tree trunk. This was not how she wanted to handle things. As a woman and one of colour, this _adventure_ could hardly be easy for Martha. _And to suddenly have a former companion pop up. _Rose grimaced as she remembered how bad she and Sarah Jane had been in the beginning. If she wanted to Martha to trust her, she was going to have to be willing to talk. With a heavy sigh, she jogged to catch up to the young woman.

"Martha, I'm sorry. I just –" she took a deep breath and then continued, "Look I haven't see the Doctor for years and I didn't even know he would be here. But then I bumped into John Smith and found the TARDIS. It wasn't hard to put two and two together." She reached out and gently pulled on her arm to stop her. "I saw some of that video, Martha. Please I want to help."

"And after all this is over? What then? If he asked you to go with him, will you?" she asked with narrowed eyes and clenched teeth.

"Maybe. Yes but –"

"You can't!" she cried her voice high almost sounding panicked. "He's been trying so hard to get over you. And now you just want to swan back into his life?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at Martha. Two things became abundantly clear to her. The first was that Martha was lashing out at her for more than just her past relationship with the Doctor. And the second, "He didn't tell you how I left, did he?"

"No, but the point is that you did."

"No, Martha," she said with a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose, "the point is that I didn't have a choice. I was quite literally sucked into another universe and was trapped there for about a hundred years or so. I'm really bad at keeping track of my birthday."

Martha, shocked, looked Rose up and down several times. "What seriously? A hundred years in another universe? But you look like you're twenty."

"I moisturize," she said with a tongue in teeth smile and waggle of her eyebrows. When Martha failed to laugh, Rose cleared her throat and said, "Right sorry bad joke. Look I'm not completely sure what happened to me. All I know is that I don't age."

"How did you get back?"

"My friend's grandson figured out a way for me to…cheat," she said with a shrug of her shoulders and then bit the edge of her thumb, trying to decide how much to say.

Those last few days in Pete's world had been rough. After Tony's death there was no one left to protect her from the Torchwood board of directors. All her years of loyal service didn't matter to them. They just saw her as a _thing_ to be dissected. Luckily for her Jonas, Mickey's grandson, had already figured out a plan to keep her permanently out of Torchwood's reach.

"I jumped back to an earlier point before the walls between the universes were closed. It was a pretty dangerous and stupid idea. If I bumped into my past self, or anyone really, I risked altering timelines. But I had to do it. Luckily it went off without a hitch. I did try to find the Doctor again, but it's rather difficult when he refuses to stay in one place or time. So I got on with my own life. Been hanging around this universe for nearly a century now."

"Are you immortal?"

Rose laughed. "I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"Well it's not like I tested it. If I break a bone it doesn't heal any faster than it normally would. And I've had a few close calls in my life, but nothing that a doctor couldn't fix. So I have no clue if I can die or if I'm like the Doctor and can regenerate."

"Regenerate?"

"Oh that alien git," she said her head falling into her hands. "For someone who never seems to stop talking, he really needs to learn how to _talk._"

Martha hummed in agreement. "Don't I know it. I had to threaten to stay behind on New Earth just to get him to tell me about his planet."

Rose looked at Martha with wide startled eyes. "He spoke to you about that?" She remembered how hard it always was to get the Doctor to say anything about his past. And yet here was this young woman who had achieved one of the only things Rose had considered next to impossible.

"Well yeah, eventually," she said nervously as she shifted her feet from side to side. "Was scared for a moment he might just take off."

"But you did it anyway," Rose said with proud grin. "Oh, Martha, you brave and brilliant woman."

"It-it wasn't much. Nothing I haven't done for my family before," she said her cheeks turning a rosy hue.

"How many are there?"

"Five of us. Six if you included my dad's girlfriend," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"And they always come to you with their problems, don't they?"

"It's not like that. I'm just –I'm the one who…" She trailed off with a heavy sigh. Her head bowed.

"That's why you left with the Doctor, isn't it? You wanted a break from it. But instead you got trapped here."

"This isn't his fault!" she said with a defensive growl. "When I first met the Doctor, we had this crazy adventure on the moon and it was…"

"Fantastic?"

"Yes, it was fantastic! And then later I was out having dinner with my family and it ended with the usual arguments. So when the Doctor asked me to come with him, I said yes. _I_ chose to come with him. Why wouldn't I? There was this cute man in his bloody tight trousers offering me all of time and space. And I…I love it. This life is mad but _brilliant_," she said with a wide beaming smile. But then it slowly began to fade and her chin began to wobble. "But I never expect –" She paused to lick her lips and take a breath.

"There were these aliens that started chasing us. We thought we could lose them, but they had this device that let them travel in time. The Doctor said all we had to do was hide because they were like mayflies. But he had to change because they knew his scent. So he – " Her breath hitched and her hand clutched the chain for her TARDIS key.

"We've been here for about two months and all I had to do was wait out a third." Her words began to tumble out faster and faster. "But then last night there was this green flash of light, and I think it crashed but he didn't say anything about green lights or meteors in his bloody list of instructions and now I don't what to do," she said her voice breaking.

Rose put her hands on Martha's shoulders. "It's okay, Martha. You're not alone. Not anymore. I'm here. I'll help you," she said as she moved her hands down Martha's arms and then grabbed her hands. The bicycle fell to the ground.

"That's what the Face of Boe said to the Doctor," Martha murmured when she finally felt calm again. "I wonder if he meant you."

"The Face of Boe?" Rose asked with only a mild interest. The last time she'd seen him, he said he was going to New Earth. After years of him always being the enigmatic one, Rose had taken some pleasure in knowing something he did not for a change. She was surprised to hear he was still there since he normally liked to stay in his suite on Jultip. _Then again he always did have a fondness for Earth, no matter its incarnation._

"Yeah, just before he died he told the Doctor 'You are not alone.' I thought he might have meant me but- "

"The Face of Boe died?"

"I'm so sorry," she said as she gently squeezed Rose's hands. "He was a friend of yours too, wasn't he?"

Rose let go of Martha and began to pace up down the side of the road. Feeling sick, she bent over and took deep breaths to try and calm her stomach. Despite how many times she dealt with it in her life, death was never easy.

"He gave his life to save the people of New Earth," Martha said coming up behind her to rub her back.

"It's okay. Time travel. I might get to see him again."

"I'm sorry," she said again.

Rose straightened her shoulders and gave herself a quick shake. "Right, okay." She clapped her hands together and took one last deep breath before she continued, "I'll grieve later. We have more important things to worry about."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me, I'll be fine. In the other universe, I used work for an organization that fought in number of civil and planetary wars. I learned how to prioritize. And right now we have a village full of innocent people and a potential alien threat. Whatever my personal issues Miss -"

"Jones."

"Miss. Jones, I won't let them interfere. And it's Tyler. He probably didn't mention that bit either."

"No, he didn't, actually."

They smiled at each other and then bent down and pickup Martha's bike from where it had fallen.

"Now, Martha, tell me about these aliens that are hunting you. And I want all the details," Rose said as they started once more down the path.

* * *

By the time they had reached the school and Martha had finished her story, Rose had come up with several ideas of which species the Family might belong to and none of them were good.

"Where's this pocket watch?" Rose asked.

"He keeps it on the mantel above the fireplace. I check to see it's there every morning when I bring him breakfast, which if I don't hurry I'll be late to do."

"Martha, I want you to keep that watch with you. If it is them, we can't waste time running around to get it."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a woman and black," she said pointing a finger at her face. "If they find something that expensive on me, they'll think I'm a thief."

With a frustrated sigh, Rose threw her head back and noticed the shadowy outline of someone in the upper stair windows. "Oh good, we've been spotted," she said with grin.

Martha followed her gaze. "I think that's Mrs. Redfern's office."

"If you get caught, say you helped me this morning and after I left found the watch. I'll of course back up your story and hopefully our little spy will too. Oh – and I'm currently going by Mrs. McCrimmon," she said as an afterthought. "In the meantime, I'll check…"

"Cooper's Field"

"Right, Cooper's Field and see what I can find."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Don't worry, I've dealt with hunters before. And I have a few specialty items I always keep with me." When Martha still looked unconvinced, Rose grabbed her hands and looked her straight in the eyes. "I'll be careful. I promise. Now get going or you'll be in trouble."

"When will I see you again?"

"Mr. Smith and I are supposed to spend the afternoon together. I'll make sure to arrive early and tell you everything I found."

"Thank you," Martha said with a grateful smile and then dashed to the servants' entrance.

Rose walked quickly away from the school and straight back to the little bed and breakfast. Just as she entered, Mrs. Myers poked her head round the doorway of the kitchen.

"Good mor - oh my! Are you all right, Mrs. McCrimmon? You look terribly pale."

"Yes, fine," she said her voice strained. "I just had a bit of tumble earlier. One of the maids from the school helped me, but I've completely ruined my skirt."

"Oh, you poor dear. Do you want me to put on the kettle? A cup of tea always helps calm the nerves. I can bring it up to your room if you want to lie down for bit."

"That would be lovely. Thank you, Mrs. Myers."

"Not a problem, not a problem," she said her voice fading as she disappeared back into the kitchen.

Rose hurried up the stairs to her room where she collapsed onto her bed. After everything Martha had told her, she just needed a moment to stop thinking and let herself react. She slammed her fists down on the mattress trying to get rid of the frustration and anger she felt over the Doctor's idiotic plan. He had put Martha and others at risk not only by being here but by removing the one person who had any knowledge of how to fight the Family. _And how did he expect Martha to convince an Edwardian man that he was actually a time travelling alien? Ridiculous! _

She tried to take a deep breath but her throat tightened and she could feel the sharp sting of tears behind her eyelids. The Face of Boe was dead. Sometimes she hated time travel. Hated knowing what had to be and being powerless to change it. They hadn't even finished their last game of chess. Now she wondered if they ever would or if that was the last time she'd ever see him.

By the time Mrs. Myers had come up with a cup of tea, Rose had calmed down. The release of emotions had left her feeling tired but clear headed. And she had plan.

There were always planets and time periods where being a woman was less than ideal. So Rose had learned how to adapt. While she may leave trunks of clothes behind in various centuries, she always brought her carpet bag with her. Inside she had a tailor made suit designed to hide her curves, Baltuni putty which altered her features so she looked more like her brother, and a bottle of Truefitt & Hill cologne strong enough to hide her normal feminine sent from some of the most sensitive noses.

She quickly changed into a double breasted forest green walking suit with pink cravat and her white cloche hat. Grabbing her vortex manipulator and carpet bag, she left the little inn and headed to the TARDIS.

* * *

It was an odd experience getting changed in the console room and Rose couldn't help but giggle a little at how naughty it felt too. The TARDIS rotor moved up and down but without the usual hum, Rose couldn't tell if the old girl was laughing with her or scolding her. _Probably a little of both_, she thought as patted the console.

Reaching into her carpet bag, Rose took out the bottle cologne and put in her side pocket and then pulled out a compact laser deluxe that the Face of Boe had given her. Before she put it in her inside breast pocket, she made sure it was set to stun, so if she did have to shoot someone, they'd only receive a nasty electric shock. She strapped on her vortex manipulator, which was still good for short range jumps and could help her scan for alien tech, and then stuffed her hair under a newspaper boy cap as she walked out of the TARDIS.

She made sure was a fair distance from the barn before she used her manipulator. If these hunters were as sensitive to smell as Martha said, Rose wanted to make sure she hid her trail as best she could.

Landing near a stream not too far from Cooper's Field, Rose took out the Truefitt & Hill cologne and dowsed herself with half the bottle and then switched on the scanner of her vortex manipulator. It wouldn't be able to tell her if there was anything around unless she few feet away from it, but at least she'd get some warning. Taking care to walk downwind, she began to make her way through woods.

Nearly half-an-hour later Rose was beginning to wonder if she was even in the right area when she noticed a few trees near the edge of field that looked as if they'd been blown over. As she started to walk towards them, her manipulator went off. Rose furrowed her brow. _Well there's definitely a cloaked ship there and some of these other readings look very familiar. _After quickly scanning the area and not noticing anything or anyone, she began to creep closer.

The sudden clang of glass against glass made Rose's heart skip a beat. Glancing down at her foot, she saw a few unopened beer bottles hidden under some leaves. Trying to relax her tense muscles, she took a deep breath and twisted her head from side to side. And that's when she spotted the odd glint of shattered glass close to where the ship should be. As she moved nearer to the broken bottle, she noticed it appeared to have been crushed under the heel of a shoe. _Think I might have found the door is_.

She knelt down by the shards of glass and then tentatively reached out a hand. The outer shell of the spaceship was cool and smooth under her fingertips. Slowly, she rose as she brushed her hand upwards along the exterior until she felt the square edge of a button. She quickly looked around again and then hesitantly pushed the button. The doors hissed open with a blast of cold wet salty air that reminded her of the seaside.

Rose licked her lips and flecked her fingers. She wondered if leaving the door open was a sign of extreme arrogance or if the owners were a lot more dangerous than she imagined. After another quick look around, she poked her head through the door and then slowly began to edge her way inside.

The interior looked as if it had been hollowed out from a piece of stone and was lit with an eerie green glow. There were pillars with paddle-like switches along walls and long looping cables. Rose reached out and touched one. Whatever these cables were, they felt like seaweed and seemed to hum. She bit her bottom lip. Something about this spaceship was eerily familiar to her.

She entered a little further and saw a semi-circle of pipes. In the center of the circle were four small _empty_ spherical receptacles.

A wave dizziness suddenly washed over her. Martha had called them the Family, but in the other universe Torchwood had nickname them Mimes after a resident telepath had misheard the strange way they referred to each other as Mine. They were a gaseous parasitic species who feed off the energy of their hosts. Unfortunately, after they acquired someone, those bodies didn't last very long and so they were constantly looking for new prey. For them, humans were a lite snack and they mostly ignored Earth to focus on hunting down creatures with longer lifespans.

_No wonder they want the Doctor. With his ability to regenerate, he would be the perfect buffet for them. They might never need to look for another body again._

A twitch from one of the seaweed-like cables reminded Rose that these aliens had similar telepathic attachments to their ships like the Doctor had with the TARDIS. She turned to leave only to find the looming figure of Mr. Clark standing in the doorway.

"Your scent, your scent, your scent," he chanted as his nostrils flared and his pupils dilated. "You smell like the vortex. You smell like time," he said with a wide feral grin and titled his head to the side.

She glanced down at her manipulator and briefly wondered if he was referring to her earlier jump. Noticing he was starting to advance on her, she quickly raised her hands and looked at Mr. Clark with wide pleading eyes. "Oh please, sir, I didn't mean any harm. I just stumble across this strange place. Please let me go. If it's money you want, I have some in my pocket," she said as she slowly reached inside her coat.

"I don't want your money," the imposter snarled.

Rose bent her head and hunched her shoulders, curling in on herself. "Well – well that's good, sir," she said, "Because I wasn't reaching for my wallet." She pulled out her gun and shot him.

Mr. Clark's body writhed and withered as it fell to the ground. A green mist escaped from his mouth and rose towards the ceiling. She didn't stick around to see what happened next.

* * *

Rose ran all the way back to the stream and plunged into the icy water. Desperately, she tried to wash off as much of the cologne as possible. Taking out the half empty bottle Truefitt & Hill from her pocket, she threw it so that it smashed against a rock further downstream and then slapped her vortex manipulator. She jumped a couple more times to try and confuse any trail she might have left and then cautiously made her way back to the TARDIS. Finally feeling safe, she slid down to the ground and leaned her head back against the doors.

One of her earliest cases with Torchwood had been with these hunters. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to remember what happened. After Canary Wharf, Rose had thrown herself into her work and the days had blended into each other. It wasn't until after Bad Wolf Bay that she started to make a conscious effort to live in Pete's world.

She remembered that those hunters, the Mimes_,_ had targeted all the people who had been involved in creating the dimension hoppers or had travelled through the Void. As far she knew, Torchwood had never found out why, but after she and Mickey had snuck onto their ship, they had figured out a way to permanently stop them.

After an attempt for peaceful resolution failed, she, Mickey, and Jake were order to destroy the Mimes' ship with the aliens on it. That mission had been one of the first ones where Rose had been forced to accept the startling difference her life with the Doctor and one on Earth. After everything was done, she couldn't just run off into a time machine. Instead, she was forced to face _immediate_ consequences of her actions.

A sneeze shook her from her thoughts. The adrenaline from earlier was wearing off and Rose suddenly felt very damp and very cold. Getting ill was the last thing she needed right now.

A door to her side clicked open. She turned her head and noticed a thin rise of steam coming from the emergency shower room. The TARDIS only opened that door whenever she and the Doctor came back covered in slim or some other sticky substance. The old girl did not like getting her console messy.

Rose patted the wall of the ship as she stood up and made her way to the washroom. She removed her sodden clothes and tried to relax under the hot spray of water. But one question kept churning over and over in her mind.

Without the advance technology available from Torchwood, how the heck were she and Martha supposed to fight off the Family? _With a kettle and a ball of sting?_ she thought as thumped her head against the wall. _Unless the ship the Mimes had and the Family have are exactly the same._

Last time, Mickey had been able to set-up remote control access to the ship. But this time if she wanted to use the same idea, she was going to have be on the ship with the Family as she manually flipped the switches. She was always up for a challenge, but this was starting to sound like a suicide run.

Rose thumped her head against the wall again. _Fantastic._


	4. Chapter 4

Hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for waiting so long ^_^

* * *

Chapter 4

Rose clutched her hat to her head as she rushed down the path towards Farringham School. She'd been so engrossed in trying to find more information about the Family that she'd completely lost track of the time. But it had been worth it.

Despite being on emergency power, the TARDIS helped Rose find the door to the library for the Artolo galaxy where the Family originated. But without the old girl to guide her through the maze of books, it had taken Rose a few wrong turns before she finally found the right section. Unfortunately, the Doctor didn't have a lot of information on the Family's species, but he did have one book about their hunting habits. Rose quickly flipped through it until she came across the section that discussed the sort of spaceships they used.

With a sigh of relief, she saw that the Family's ship was identical to the Mimes' from her universe. Or at least their environmental controls were. As a gaseous species, the safest place for them to transfer bodies was aboard their ship – otherwise they risked being scattered in the wind. But having to keep control over the temperature, the air pressure, and the humidity was hard on the engines. _Especially if the primary heat converter suddenly malfunctioned_, she thought with a wicked grin.

As she neared the school, Rose noticed Martha pacing just outside the gates.

"Martha!" she shouted. "Good news, I may have a way to stop the Family. Granted, it's not the best solution and there are still some details to work out, but – " she stopped when she noticed Martha's wide eyes and stiff posture. "What is it? What's happened?"

"I've lost it," she said, her fingers gripping her apron in white-knuckled fists.

"Lost what? The watch?"

"I went in to serve him breakfast and saw it there on the mantel," she said as she began to pace. "But I couldn't take it. Not with him in the room. So I thought I'd nip back later, but by the time I did it was gone!"

Rose gripped Martha's shoulders to still her. "Maybe he moved it? Did you get a chance to search the room?"

"No, he wouldn't have moved it. He barely even notices it because of the perception filter. And I tried searching his room, but he came back before I could finish."

"Right, okay. Well, when he's out with me, I'll make sure after we leave the village to take one of the longer trails across some of the farming fields. That should take us at least an hour, so you'll have plenty of time to look around." She smiled at Martha. "Good thing you're a maid. At least no one will ask questions."

"What if it's not there? Is the Family here? What if they've already found it?" Martha's speech sped up as her panic increased.

"Breathe, Martha, breathe," Rose said as she took a few deep exaggerated breaths and waited for Martha to do the same.

"Yes, the Family is here. But if they had already found it, this village wouldn't still be here. Check his room again. If it's not there, find out who was and search their room. He couldn't have had that many visitors, could he?"

"No, you're right." Martha took another deep breath. "So you're sure the Family's here?"

Rose sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yup. Even had a bit of run in with one," she said with a grimace. "So far Mr. Clark is the first tragedy and unfortunately there's going to be four more." She opened her clutch and pulled out the small compact laser. "Here, take this. I'm afraid I may have blown our cover and I don't want you walking around without some protection."

"What do you mean?" she asked, ignoring the small weapon.

"When I found the ship, I went to take a look inside and that's where I ran into one of them. He was wearing Mr. Clark. Before I shot him, he smelled the Vortex on me because of a jump I made earlier with my vortex manipulator. I'd been using it to make sure they couldn't follow my scent straight to the TARDIS. Last thing we need is for them to find the old girl."

"He smelled the Vortex on you?" She looked Rose up and down. "And you're sure it was from this manipulator thing?"

Rose clenched her jaw. "Just what are implying, Miss Jones?"

"It's just you're not exactly human."

"I am," she snapped, baring her teeth. Then with a huff, Rose closed her eyes and twisted her head from side to side. "Sorry. Old argument. Only one who never seemed to question my humanity was my little brother. Guess it still hits a nerve."

"I'm sorry," she said, placing a comforting hand on Rose's arm. "But are you sure it was from the manipulator?" When she felt Rose stiffen, Martha held up her hands in placating manner. "You can't ignore the fact that you don't age. Look, I'm not questioning who you are; I'm just worried about how you smell," she said in exasperation, and then she froze. "To them," she said colour rising on her cheeks. "I meant how you smell to them."

Lips twitching, they turned their heads away to try and smother their amusement. But then they caught each other's eye and broke into a fit of laughter.

"I'm serious," Martha gasped between giggles.

"I know," Rose said as she tried to calm down. "It's just somehow these conversations always go mental." She smiled at Martha as she took one last deep breath. "But, I get it. I know what you're saying. I do. But let's worry about it _if_ it becomes an issue. Right now we've got enough on our plate, yeah?"

"But that's just it. You're going out with him now. What if they find you and the Doctor gets caught up in it too?"

Rose raised her chin. "Then you have my word that I will do everything I can to protect him, Miss Jones. Now, are you going to take this blaster or not?"

"No, you should keep it."

"Martha, please. I have some pepper spray back at the inn I can keep on me. With their sensitive noses, they're going to _love_ that." She pushed the weapon towards Martha. "I don't like the idea of you being on your own. And I've set it to stun so it's more like a Taser."

The young woman huffed in frustration. "No, and I mean it. I wouldn't feel comfortable with it on me. And besides I've never held a gun in my life. Knowing my luck I'd just end up missing."

Realizing this was a losing battle, Rose stuffed the laser back into her purse. "All right, fine. Just be careful, yeah?"

"I will," she said with a smile. "Now, you said something before about being able to stop them?"

Rose gave her a wide toothy smile. "Oh yes! Turns out these guys are similar to a species I came across in the other universe. If we can find a way to knock them out and put them back onto their ship, I can take care of the rest."

"But you said one of them was _wearing_ Mr. Clark, how we will recognize the others if they look like us?"

Rose shook her head. "He won't be in Mr. Clark's body anymore. When they take over someone, they strip the mind and only keep the body alive. When I shot him, the hunter left Mr. Clark, so there was nothing to keep his body going. And they're not like the Gelth. They don't use corpses."

"The what?" Before Rose could answer, Martha held up her hand. "No, never mind. You can tell me some other time. But basically what you're saying is, we have one dead body and no suspects. Brilliant," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Just be on the lookout for people who seem to have very bad colds and are constantly sniffing. You might even be able to trick them by saying something silly like, 'I love drinking sardines,' and they'll agree because –" she suddenly stopped when she heard two voices coming their way.

John and a woman in her early thirties walked towards them.

"Ah, hello, Marion," he said with a wide smile as he and the woman came to a stop before her. Martha gave them all a quick curtsey before she disappeared back into the school. "I would like to introduce our school nurse Mrs. Joan Redfern. Mrs. Redfern, this is Mrs. Marion McCrimmon."

The two women bowed their heads and murmured a polite 'good day' to each other.

"I hope you don't mind me coming with you," Mrs. Redfern said as she raised her head. "As I was leaving, I stopped by Mr. Smith's room to return a book he'd lent me. When he asked me where I was going and I told him the village, he graciously invited me to join you." She turned to John with a shy smile. "Though I did tell you, I'm perfectly capable of going on my own."

"Nonsense, we're all heading the same way. It's no problem at all." He turned to Rose. "Is it, Marion?" he asked a little uncertainly.

Rose gritted her teeth. She hated when the Doctor backed her up into a corner like this. Apparently his human counterpart had the same annoying habit. There was no polite way she could refuse without coming off as a bitch. "Of course," she said with a tight smile that hurt her cheeks. "The more the merrier."

"Excellent, excellent. Shall we?" John held out his arm.

Both women looked at each other for moment before Rose, with a roll of her eyes, walked on ahead leaving Mrs. Redfern to take his arm. With her back turned to them, she did not see the look of disappointment that flashed across John's face, or the happy bashful smile on Mrs. Redfern's.

* * *

For the first few minutes of their walk, Mrs. Redfern tried in vain to include Rose in the conversation between herself and Mr. Smith. But Rose was in no mood to indulge in the usual polite platitudes about the weather. Her mind was otherwise preoccupied with what Martha had said earlier.

_What if she's right and the scent of the Vortex wasn't from my jump but was because of me?_

Accepting that she was no longer completely human had always been difficult for her. Jackie and Pete had tried to give her nothing but love and support. But there were moments, comments, like when her mum would complain about the price of anti-aging cream and say how lucky Rose was not to have such a worry, which made her wonder if they didn't resent her just a little. It didn't help that the press and people at work frequently made snide and disparaging remarks that constantly called into question what she was. Only Tony seemed to understand how afraid she'd been of her _mutation_ changing her into someone or _something else_.

In the other universe, she'd been well known as the Tyler heiress, one of the top agents of Torchwood (but never allowed to be director), and the President's best diplomat for off world relations. She had made sure to perfect each and every role. But despite her impressive resume and medals of valour, everywhere she went she had to endure strange looks and whispered words always knowing she was never going to be completely trusted or accepted. In the end it wasn't her mutation that changed her, but the people around her.

Returning to this universe, even though the reasons behind it had been _unpleasant_, had given her back her freedom and anonymity. Suddenly she was allowed to be Rose again. No title, no expectations. The only person she had to answer to was herself. And she had revelled in it.

But it seemed old hurts still followed her.

She glanced over her shoulder at John. When he regained his memories, she would have to tell the Doctor about her new condition. She bit her lower lip. Would he still see her and accept her as his Rose?

Suddenly filled with a nervous energy and need to get away from him, she quickened her steps and stop at the edge of the main square. She glanced around the village green and spotted William Gardner with an older gentleman who had a similar portly build to the late Mr. Clark.

Turning around, she interrupted Mrs. Redfern, who had just been about to tell John some story about her late husband. "Sorry I don't mean to be rude, Mrs. Redfern. John, I'm just going to say hello to Mr. Gardener." Noticing the way he clenched his teeth, she quickly added, "I'll only be a moment. I'm sure you want to finish your conversation with Mrs. Redfern. I'll meet up with you in a bit." She bobbed her head to Mrs. Redfern as she bid her farewell, and then hurried towards the young mechanic.

"Mr. Gardner," she called and waved her hand.

"Mrs. McCrimmon," he said with a wide beaming smile. "How are you?"

"Well, thank you. And you?"

"All the better for seeing you. Please allow me to introduce my uncle, Mr. Andrew Moore. Uncle, this is the lady with the Sunbeam I was telling you about, Mrs. Marion McCrimmon."

Mr. Moore tipped his hat towards her, as she in turn bowed her head. "I take it, sir, that you are the uncle who works for Wolseley Motors?"

"I am indeed, ma'am."

"Then I hope you will forgive for buying from the competition."

"Of course, ma'am. From what my nevvy's said, I suspect the next time you fancy buying a motor, you'll get one of ours," he said with wink.

Rose laughed. "Oh yes, most definitely."

"About your car, Mrs. McCrimmon, my uncle's brought some of the parts I need with him. If the other bits arrive tomorrow morning, I may just have it finished by the afternoon."

"Well, we might if we could ever find that bugger, Mr. Clark." Mr. Moore bowed his head towards her. "Pardon the language, ma'am."

"Oh, you weren't planning on working on the car today, were you?" she asked her heart suddenly quickening. "Only I know there's a dance tonight. I would have thought you might like to spend the day with the young lady you're going with. Or have you yet to ask someone?"

Mr. Gardner looked at his uncle. A silent message passed between them and suddenly Mr. Moore bid her good day and left.

The young man took off his hat and began to nervously shift it in his hands. "I was actually wondering, Mrs. McCrimmon, if I might escort you to the dance this evening?"

Suddenly, a woman screamed and there was a thunderous noise of a piano and splintering wood. Both Mr. Gardner and Rose whipped their heads towards the general store.

A woman stood near the shattered remains of a black piano, cooing to her baby as a small crowd began to gather around them.

"My goodness," she heard Mr. Gardner murmur and she hummed in reply. But her attention was no longer focused on chaos outside the general store. Instead, it had shifted to John and Mrs. Redfern.

The nurse was looking up at him with an expression of awe and wonder. Rose watched as he grabbed Mrs. Redfern by the shoulders said a few quick lines, which instantly transformed the woman's expression to one of disappointment, and then turned and marched towards Rose. _Oh dear_, she thought, _I recognize that look._

Quickly turning back to the young man beside her, she said "I'm sorry, Mr. Gardner, but I am afraid someone else has already asked me. Perhaps I can save you dance?"

He turned towards her with a slightly dazed expression. "Um…yes, that's – "

An arm snaked around her waist and suddenly she was being pulled away. "Good day, Mr. Gardner. See you this evening!" she called over her shoulder.

* * *

When they were safely away from prying eyes, Rose turned and slapped a hand against John's chest pushing her out from his embrace. "Well, that was rude. I barely got a chance to say goodbye." She stood with her head held high, shoulders back, and hands on her hips. "What on earth gives you the right to manhandle me in such a way?"

"Sorry," he said taking off his hat and bowing his head as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I just couldn't bear to see you in his company anymore."

Rose snorted, rolled her eyes and tried to look generally annoyed, but she couldn't stop her cheeks from turning a little red with pleasure. Unwilling to forgive him just yet, she decided to change the topic. "What happened back there?"

"I realized I was spending my time with the wrong woman."

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised one hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I sincerely hope that's not your attempt at flattery, or I may just have to rush back to Mr. Gardner and take him up on his offer instead. And that's not what I meant. I was talking about the piano and the whole mess in front of the general store."

John rubbed the back of his neck and then pulled at his wonky ear. "I'm not sure. I noticed the woman with the pram and then the piano and suddenly it was if I was seeing several different versions of the same event. So I just chose the best one," he said ducking his head shyly as he placed his hat back on his head.

"The one where no one was hurt, and everyone lived?" she asked as her arms fell away from her chest and she relaxed her stiff posture.

"Yes," he said softly and reached out for her hands.

"Is this part where I meant to say, 'My hero,' and forgive you all your sins?"

He looked at her with a nervous, bashful smile and squeezed her hands. "I am sorry about my earlier behaviour, Marion."

"Which time?"

"Both of them," he said and moved a little closer so that they were almost touching chest to chest.

She smiled. There something nice about a man being able to admit and apologise for his mistakes. Whenever she tried to call the Doctor on his behaviour, he would just stare at her with his confused kicked-puppy-dog look until she was forced to relent.

"Well, I suppose I can forgive you for inviting Mrs. Redfern on our outing. You were, after all, just trying to be chivalrous." Rose moved back and let go of his left hand, but kept her fingers entwined with his right. "But I'm not so sure about the other incident." She turned and began to walk down a path that would take them across some of the farming fields before looping back to the school. "I think that may require a gift of some kind. And not just some cheap trinket. Something personal. Like a…" She pretended to pounder for a moment, but before she could say anything John interrupted her.

"A portrait? I could draw you, if you want."

"Draw me?" she asked looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't mention that you were an artist."

"I – I dabble a bit," he said ducking his head as his cheeks turned a little red. "I could show you some of them if you like?"

Rose shook her head in amusement. John was turning out to be quite the contradiction. Sometimes he seemed to be full of the Doctor's overbearing confidence, and then other times he was as shy as a virgin. _Maybe he is. Or at least this him thinks he is_, she thought with a Cheshire cat grin.

She bumped her shoulder with his. "I might take you up on the offer to see some of those drawings, but I'm terrible at sitting still. No, I think I may have to explore your room and see what I can find. Hope your maid's cleaned under your _bed_," she said swirling her thumb on the soft skin of his wrist between the cuff of his glove and his sleeve.

He looked at her with wide eyes. "My – my bed? In my room?" he said with nervous gulp.

"Well, yes. By the time we reach the end of this path, I expect we'll both want a cup of tea and the school will be close by."

"Yes, of course," he said as his hand tightened around hers and his other tugged nervously at his scarf.

"Oh don't look so worried. I'm sure the servants have tidied up, and I promise I won't go rummaging through your drawers."

"No, no, it's not that. It's just…" he cleared his throat, his cheeks flushed. "Are you sure it's proper?"

"Why? Are you planning to ravish me?" she asked with her tongue-in-teeth-smile.

He whipped his head towards her, eyes flickering to her lips. She watched as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "No need to tease, Marion," he said licking his lips as he turned his head away from her. "I'm just concerned abou –about your reputation."

"Everyone should be teased at least once in their life. And I don't think anyone will mind. It's not as if I'm coming to your room in the middle of the night. Besides, I'm sure most of the students have seen a woman before. Young boys tend to be quite curious, after all," she said with a playful wink and a nudge.

"Marion," he said in exasperation raising a hand to rub his eye as he shook his head. She saw he only used one finger to rub his eye and knew that tended to mean, at least with the Doctor, that he was more amused than annoyed. _Still best not to push my luck._

"Oh, all right, John. I'm sorry for teasing you. But I do love seeing you blush," she said and reached up on her tippy toes to give him a quick peck on his cheek. He stopped walking and Rose turned to face him. "John?"

He used their linked hands to pull her closer so that they stood toe-to-toe. His gaze focused on her lips, pupils dilated. "Can I…May I kiss you, Marion?"

"Out here?" she asked with a breathy laugh and edged away.

The colour on his cheeks deepened. She felt his hand relax as he tried to slip it away from her grasp. Before he could stammer out an apology, Rose gave his hand a gentle squeeze and said, "You may."

His head shot up, and he looked at her wide happy grin. But before he could lean forward, Rose let go of his hand and scurried backwards just out of his reach. "If you can catch me."

"Catch you?" he asked as he tried to move closer to her.

"See that scarecrow there?" she said pointing further up the path to figure that seemed to be half falling from its perch. "If you manage to catch me before I pass it, I'll give you a kiss."

"And if I don't?"

"We'll see," she said and then took off.

"Ah! Cheater!" she heard him cry.

Rose hitched up her skirts not caring that she was probably showing more leg than was acceptable and threw back her head letting out a joyful laugh. When she saw John nearing her, she quickly altered her course. Somewhere along the way she'd lost hat and she could feel her hair slipping free from her bun. It felt wonderful.

John managed to slip ahead of her and held out his hands like a goalkeeper trying to block her path. "Marion, this is childish."

"Then, do you admit I've won?"

"Never."

"Then what's really the problem? Feeling tired, John? I would have hoped you had more stamina."

He gave her a wide feral grin and then lunged for her once more. But Rose had the advantage of her Torchwood training and easily dodged him.

Just as she managed to make it pass the scarecrow, John caught her about her waist and held her tight against him. "Too late. I've won," she said breathlessly. Her hands rested on his shoulders and their chests rubbed against each other with every gasping breath.

Keeping one arm around her, he used the other to brush her hair from her face and then gently cup her cheek. "So you have. What do want as your reward?" he asked, his voice low and husky. His gaze slipped down to her lips and his head tilted forward.

For a moment she was very tempted to give in, but the quick beat of a single heart beneath her palm reminded her that he was not the man she wanted. Grabbing his hat from his head, she moved out of his embrace. "I think I'll keep your hat. I seem to have lost mine." She placed it on her head and gave him her best impression of Ben Stiller's Blue Steel look.

"Tease," he said with a breathy laugh.

She reached out her hand. "You love it," she said with her tongue-in-teeth smile.

His gaze softened, and he gently enclosed his hand around hers. "I do. I love –"

"Shall we get that tea?" she interrupted as her cheeks flushed. She nervously fiddled with her pink cravat and felt her face grow warmer the longer John remained quiet.

Finally, he nodded his head and squeezed her hand. "Yes, all right, let's get some tea."

They walked back to the school, neither of them noticing the scarecrow raising its head.

* * *

John and Rose were about to head up the stairs to his room when they saw Martha rushing down towards them. She stumbled to a halt, arms out to stop herself from toppling over.

"Martha," John snapped. "You should know better than to be seen running about the school."

She curtsied. "Sorry, sir. Won't happen again, sir."

"Oh, John, you know Martha?" Rose asked looking at him with wide innocent eyes.

"Yes, she's a maid from my old home. When I left, she came with me to Farringham. How do you know her?"

"Why, she happened to rescue me this morning," she said, giving Martha a warm smile.

"Rescue you?" he asked in alarm.

"Yes, I took a bit of a tumble when I was out walking early this morning and Martha helped me back. She's such a kind and wonderful young woman, don't you think?" she asked batting her eyelashes at him.

"Err…um yes. Very kind. Well done, Martha. You may go about your business," he said, moving so she could walk past him.

Martha curtsied and walked a little way down the hall, when Rose called out for her stop.

"I'll be back in a moment, John," she said and then hurried to Martha. "Any luck?" she whispered.

"No, and I tried everywhere I could think of."

"Then stop. We don't want to draw attention to ourselves by acting suspicious. Maybe if you take a walk and get some fresh air, you'll remember something. But for now stop."

"Marion?" John called from the stairs. "Everything all right?"

"Yes, just asking for some tea and few sandwiches. Don't know about you, but I'm a bit peckish." She turned back to Martha. "And if you are too, take a few of those sandwiches," she said with a wink.

"Will that be all, ma'am?" Martha asked raising her voice just a little.

"Yes, thank you."

Martha bobbed her head and left.

Rose turned around and walked back to John, who then led her upstairs.

* * *

As she stepped into his room, she was pleasantly surprised to see it was about the size if not larger than Mrs. Myers' sitting room. For a moment, she'd been worried it might have been as pokey as the bedroom she'd had when she'd stayed with the Clark's.

Standing between the large tufted leather sofa and the fireplace, she began to slowly unbutton her coat as she glanced about. John seemed to have every scientific gadget possible; telescope, barograph, microscope, even a few nautical instruments. It didn't really surprise Rose given the Doctor's own voracious curiosity.

John came up behind her. His hands grazed the sides of her neck as he took her coat from her. Rose tried to hide her shiver of delight by smoothing down the sleeves of her of white cotton blouse.

"Please take a seat," he said as he hung her coat by the door.

"This is a lovely room, John," she said as she turned towards the sofa. That's when she saw the nook where John's bed was hidden. Her earlier comment about him ravishing her suddenly popped into her head. With a blush, she quickly turned back around and sat down.

Noticing her odd reaction, he glanced behind her and his own cheeks reddened. "I'll – I'll just go get those drawings," he said as he moved to the large mahogany desk by the windows.

Rose carefully continued looking about the room. She had to hand it to Martha; this place was spotless. _Poor girl deserves a holiday after this_.

Trusting Martha to have done a thorough job searching the room, Rose glanced at John and realized there was one place she couldn't have checked.

"You don't happen to have a pocket watch, do you?" she asked deciding to try the direct approach.

"What? Why?" he asked poking his head up from his desk.

She rolled her eyes. "So I can know what time it is, silly. Why else would I ask if you had one?"

"But there's a clock right here," he said pointing to the tall grandfather clock behind him.

"Martha happened to mentioned that it was little off."

"Really?" he said eyeing the clock.

"Hmm…yes. She's told one of the footmen, but wasn't sure if they'd been round yet."

She watched as he pat himself down. "No, I don't seem to have one on me."

"Perhaps in your coat?"

"Have a look if you like," he said gesturing to the coat stand and then ducked his head back into his desk drawer.

Rose got up and searched his pockets but found nothing but a ball of lint inside. She let out a huff of frustration, but decided to use her little ruse to go wait for Martha.

"Is there a clock in the hall?"

"Why are you so interested in the time?"

"I need to make sure I get back to the inn in time to change for the dance. I wouldn't want to be late."

"I thought being late was fashionable," he said looking up at her with teasing grin.

"There's fashionably late, John, and there's _late_."

"Ah, I see," he said with a chuckle.

"So? Is there a clock in the hall?"

"Umm…yes. To the left at the end of the hall, I believe."

"Right, I'll be back in tick," she said and left closing the door behind her.

She leaned against the door and looked around. The school was in a fairly typical Victorian building with heavy dark wood and cream coloured walls. She noticed half the hall seemed to have been converted to electricity but further down there were stains on the wall from candlelight smoke.

The rattle of cups distracted her from her reverie.

"Martha," she said with a smile.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, I made up a story about his clock being wrong and needing to check another," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I thought he might have the pocket watch on him, but no such luck, I'm afraid."

"What are we going to do?" she asked rattling the tray.

"Like I said, relax," she said taking the tray and placing it on the floor.

"And what? Wait and see?"

"It's all we can do for now." She placed a hand on Martha's arm. "You said you were a medical student, yeah? Well don't they teach you about the dangers of being overly stressed and tired? If things go wrong, we're both going to need our wits about us."

"All right, all right, fine. I'll go for a walk. Maybe even visit the TARDIS."

Martha reached down to pick up the tray, but Rose stopped her. "I'll take it in. You go and take a break," she said lifting up the tray. "And be safe."

"You too," Martha said as she waved goodbye.

Rose pushed open the door with her hip.

"Ah there you are!" John said as he leapt up from the couch. "I was worried you might have gotten lost. Did you find the clock?"

"Yes, all's well. I just took so long because I ran into Martha," she said holding up the tray, "and ended up having a bit of chat."

"With Martha?" he asked as he took the tray from her and set it down on a tall table that was pushed up against the back of the sofa.

"Yes, what's wrong with that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, nothing at all. Just can't imagine you'd have a lot to talk about, that's all."

"Oh, but, John, if you really want to get know someone you should always talk to the staff," she said with a teasing grin as she walked towards him. "Don't worry, Martha had nothing but nice things to say about you. Although a raise wouldn't go amiss," she said, her tongue slipping between her teeth.

"A raise?" he asked with a laugh.

"And maybe a few more days off?" she said as she reached for the tea pot.

"I'm beginning to think you're a member of the British Socialist Party."

"Oh, I'm worse than that, John."

"What could be worse?" he asked as he added a splash of milk and sugar to their cups.

"I'm a suffragette."

"Isn't that the derogatory term the papers use for the suffragists?"

She handed him a plate with half a cumber sandwich. "Yes it is. But I'm part of the Women's Social and Political Union not the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and they've decided to adopted it as a way to snub their noses at the press," she said as she picked up her cup and saucer and moved to take a seat on the sofa.

"They're quite an interesting group. I remember going to one of their meetings where I ended having a lively debate with Lady Constance Lytton. She's the one who disguised herself as that seamstress Jane Warton so she wouldn't receive special treatment when she went to prison. She's currently writing a book on her experience. Should be quite the read," she said and then took a sip of tea.

"You've never done something like that, have you, Marion?" he asked looking at her with a worried frown.

"Oh no, nothing quite like that," she said which was somewhat true as she'd never gone undercover with express intention of getting arrested. _Well there was that one time, _she mused. "I mostly just join them in their marches and give them a bit of funding."

"But you could do the same with the NUWSS instead being part of _that_ militant group," he said with a scowl.

"You're right, I suppose," she said ignoring his smug smile. "In the end, it doesn't really matter which party I'm in because women are going to get the vote either way," she said with a knowing grin as she put down her cup. "But enough politics, I'm much more interested in these drawings of yours."

"Yes, right," he said as he looked around uncertain what to do with his cup and cucumber sandwich. Rose took both from his hands and placed them on the table behind the couch. He smiled gratefully at her and then leaned down to pick up a leather bound book. "Here they are," he said handing her his journal.

For a moment she hesitated, wondering if this was an invasion of the Doctor's privacy. She licked her lips and rubbed the tips of her fingers against her palms. Her innate curiosity won and she flipped the book open.

There were faces of past companions, landscapes of distant planets, and various aliens, some she recognized from her own travels. But when she came across a certain girl in a fireplace, Rose decided to quickly flick past it saying she'd never been overly fond of France.

"But why? France is a lovely place," he said with a happy grin.

"James once went to see a mistress there," she said tonelessly and turned the page.

She kept her head bowed and didn't see the way John's eyes darkened or the way he clenched and unclenched his hands. Instead, her gaze was riveted on the sketch of Jack Harkness in his captain's hat and coat.

Her breath caught in her throat. Oh, how she missed him. Missed how he and the Doctor would talk about various gadgets and gizmos as they fixed the TARDIS together. She rarely understood those conversations, but she loved the way it made the Doctor smile. Jack was always good at that. A tear fell onto the page. She wished she could have saved him from the Daleks.

"Marion?"

She cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "Sorry," she said and turned her head away.

He gently reached out and cupped her cheek, turning her face back to him.

"I'm sorry he hurt you."

"What?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Your husband, James. I'm sorry he hurt you. But know that I never would, Marion. I promise you."

He leaned forward, but Rose raised a hand and pressed it to his lips. "Please, I need time."

John searched her gaze and finally nodded his head. Rose turned and pressed her lips to his palm. "Thank you," she murmured.

"You're worth waiting for, Marion."

"So are you," she said and then turned to another page.

For a moment, she saw her own face staring back at her, but John quickly grabbed the book and then flipped through several pages before he handed it back to her.

She raised her eyebrow at him. When he said nothing and just continued to turn a deeper shade of red, Rose decided to be merciful and ignore his strange behaviour. _It's probably for the best_, she thought. _I_ _wouldn't want to be charged for murder on top of everything else._

* * *

When the clock chimed six times, John helped Marion back into her walking coat and grabbed his own. "I can make it to the inn on my own. It's not far and you have to get ready for the dance too."

"Men don't take as long women, Marion," he said with a teasing smile.

She bit back her retort having to remind herself that this was not the man who had taken longer than her to get ready when they were supposed to have gone to an Elvis concert.

The sun was just beginning to set as they walked back to the inn. The whole way there they seemed to be laughing, but after John left, promising to return in an hour, Rose couldn't remember what they'd found so amusing. With a shrug of her shoulders, she headed up the stairs to her room.

After removing her walking suit, she debated on whether or not she should have a quick wash. She stuck her finger into the jug by her basin and feeling the icy water decided she'd already had a perfectly good shower earlier.

She opened her trunk and rummaged through it until she found her embroidered champagne silk satin evening dress with white chiffon overlay and silver braid trim. Searching a little deeper, she found the matching pair of low heeled soft satin shoes. She knew from experience that of all her evening shoes, these were the best for running. She got dressed quickly and then sat in front of her desk mirror.

Twisting and twirling her hair, she tried to decide if she should arrange it into a Psyche knot or the new Recamier. Both styles required quite a bit of time and patience.

Rose threw back her head with a groan of frustration. Nancy would normally lend her the use of her lady's maid when she forced to participate in one of these social functions. With a huff, she decided to arrange her hair in a similar fashion to how she wore it when she and the Doctor had visited Charles Dickens.

Satisfied with her look, she added a large silver and pearl hair comb for decoration and then knelt to open the secret base of her trunk. She picked up a small bottle of pepper spray and tucked it between her breasts. Cassandra's little trick had saved her on more than one occasion.

Standing up she gave the room a quick look to make sure she hadn't left anything important lying about and then locked up her trunk. She'd left her carpet bag on the TARDIS, but she worried about what would happen to her trunk if they didn't have time to come get it.

She remembered seeing a writing desk in the front sitting room and hurried down stairs. She paused at the bottom and listened for a moment. Mrs. Myers was humming in the kitchen. Keeping an eye on the kitchen door just-in-case, Rose crept backwards into the sitting room.

"Marion?"

She swirled around with her finger on her lips and pointed towards the kitchen.

John gave her bemused looked as he raised his own finger to his lips.

She smiled at him and then hurried to the writing desk where she took out a pen and piece of paper.

"You look beautiful," John whispered against her neck.

Rose shivered. "And you're distracting," she said, trying to ignore the heat of his palm on the small of her back and the way his breath puffed against her ear. "Behave or I'll call Mrs. Myers in here, and we'll never leave."

"You wouldn't."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Do you really want to take that risk?"

"All right, all right," he said holding up his hands in surrender and went to sit back down on the sofa.

After she finished writing her instructions to have her trunk sent to Nancy should anything happen, she turned to leave. "Be back soon," she said to John as she hurried back up the stairs.

She put the letter on her trunk and, after a quick check to see that her hair hadn't fallen loose from her mad dash, slipped on her white satin gloves and teal blue velvet evening coat. Grabbing her clutch, she left her room at the little inn for the last time.

* * *

"Did I already mention you look beautiful?" he asked as he helped her remove her coat.

She turned and smiled at him. "You did. But it's always nice to hear." She reached up and straightened his bow tie. "You don't look half bad yourself."

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your partners for the opening waltz."

"Looks like we got here just in time," she said with smile.

"Shall we?" he asked, holding his arm out to her.

They took their positions on the floor and waited for the music.

That's when she noticed the girl with the red balloon in the corner. At first, she had just thought it odd that the girl was still wearing her coat inside. But then Rose noticed the strange way she was staring unblinkingly at everyone who passed.

Suddenly the girl threw her head back as she took a deep breath.

_Shit._

The music began. Rose stiffened and tried to subtly guide John further away from the little girl.

"Is something wrong, Marion?"

"Umm…no why?" she asked, her eyes flickering back and forth between John and the girl.

"You just seem a little distracted."

"You're right," she said giving him a small smile. "Sorry."

She tried to follow the advice she'd given to Martha earlier and relax. But then John spun them around and suddenly they were headed towards the little girl's corner.

"Can we sit down?" she asked, her heart racing.

"What? Why?"

"I'm suddenly feeling a little light headed," she said and stumbled for effect.

"Yes, all right," he said as he gently held her about the waist. He guided her to a table that was across the room from the little girl.

"Would you like me to get you something to drink? Or eat?"

"I think perhaps I should have something to eat. I only had few apples at breakfast and half that cucumber sandwich with you earlier."

"That's all you've had to eat today?" he said with a frown. "No wonder you're feeling faint." He brushed a hand against her cheek. "Rest here. I'll bring you back a large plate. And I'll expect you to eat all of it."

Rose smiled at him as he left. Discretely, she turned to look at the little girl only to see her smiling at her. Careful to keep her face blank, she turned away and watched after John.

"They're here," Martha said as she came up behind Rose and then took a seat.

Rose kept her eyes trained on John and smiled at him when he turned to look at her. "I know," she said titling her head towards the girl in the corner. "But they're looking for a man not a woman."

For a moment Martha furrowed her brow in confusion and then she looked at her with wide eyes. "Don't do this."

"There are all kinds of courage, Martha," she said finally looking at the young woman before her. "It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."

"Did you just quote Harry Potter?"

"Dumbledore was a wise man. You should heed his words."

"Yeah, which is why I'm telling you this is a stupid idea. Look," she said and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. "Maybe we could use this to –"

Rose placed her hand over Martha's. "I gave you my word that I would do everything I could." She squeezed her hand. "I trust you to do the same."

"Martha? What are you doing here?" John asked as he came back to the table.

Mr. Moore suddenly entered, throwing down a coat stand by the door and shouting, "You will be silent!"

A tall lanky lad in the boy's school uniform and a plump woman who had a bonny face followed behind Mr. Moore. "Oh Jenny," she hear Martha whisper. A band of scarecrows entered after them and lined up behind them blocking the front doors.

"Mr. Moore, what is this about?" someone asked.

Mr. Moore shot him, vaporizing the poor man into dust. The crowd screamed and rushed towards the back of the room.

Rose quickly grabbed her clutch from the table and stood up.

"We asked for silence!" shouted the tall boy. The crowd, which had formed a wide semi-circle around the Family, quieted. "Now then, we have a few questions for Mr. Smith."

"Uncle, what are you doing? What –" Mr. Moore turned his weapon onto Mr. Garden.

"STOP! Don't you dare," Rose snarled as she marched towards them.

All three of them threw back their heads as they took a very deep breath and then smiled.

The little girl with the red balloon walked up to group. "I heard her talking to the maid," she said with eerie grin. "They're looking for a man, she said. Not a woman."

"Mr. Baines, I demand you tell me what this is about at once!" John said coming up behind her.

The tall lad, Mr. Baines, pointed his gun at John. Rose turned and shoved John back.

"Stay out of this, John. Martha," she snapped.

The young woman hurried forward and pulled John away. He went with her looking at Rose with those damn kicked-puppy-dog eyes.

"You smell like time, but you are not the same as the one we hunted."

Rose clenched her teeth and whipped towards them. "I regenerated you morons. Of course I don't smell the same."

They sneered at her.

She raised her head and stared them down. "I'm the last of my kind and you know you'll never find a tastier morsel than me. Do you really want to give me up just because I smell a little _iffy_ to you?"

"So you give up?" asked the woman, Jenny – if she'd heard Martha right.

"Only if you let these people go unharmed."

"But I want to have bit more sport with these humans. They're such funny little things," said Mr. Baines.

"You will not touch anyone here or the deal is off."

"What makes you think we'll do as you ask? We're the one with the weapons," said Mr. Moore and all three raised their guns.

Rose reached into her clutch. "Compact laser deluxe," she said showing them the small gun. "An old friend gave it to me. You need me alive for this little transfer of yours to work." She pressed the gun under her chin and smiled at the Family. "Shall we go to your ship now?"

"Can you really pull the trigger?" asked Jenny turning her head sideways.

"How do you think I regenerated into this fabulous form?"

"Then you'll just regenerate again. Perhaps even back into man," said Mr. Baines with smile.

"Are you sure about that?" Rose asked raising her eyebrow and pushing the nozzle of her gun a little harder against her skin. "Are you really willing to risk your chance at immortality on a bunch of apes?"

"Let her shoot the weapon," said Mr. Moore. "It will not kill her. Only shock her."

Rose flicked the safety off and shot one of the scarecrows. The crowd recoiled further as it vanished into dust. "You were saying?"

Mr. Baines growled. "Fine have it your way, Time Lord."

"Let everyone leave first. I don't trust you not to burn this place down before they can escape."

As one, the Family and their scarecrows bowed and moved to the side. The crowd surged forward towards the open doors.

John shoved his way to Rose and grabbed her hand. "Marion, come with me. We can escape through the back."

Rose pulled herself away. "Go with Martha, John. She'll explain everything."

"No, no," he said shaking his head. "You were feeling ill earlier. This is just some strange madness that's infected you all." She let him come near and cup her cheeks. "Please, Marion, please come with me."

She covered his hands with hers and turned her head to kiss his palm. "I'm sorry, John. I'm so sorry." Gently, she pulled his hands away.

"Come, Time Lord," snapped Mr. Baines. "We are running out of patience."

Ignoring the Family, she wrapped her arms around John and whispered in his ear. "Those pages you didn't want me to see. Look at them, John, and remember Rose Tyler." And then she pushed herself away from him and left with the Family.

* * *

Mr. Moore held out his hand. "Give me the gun."

Rose looked up at him with wide eyes. "Gun? What gun?"

"Don't play games, Time Lord. Think we're stupid enough to let you onboard with it still in your hands?"

"I was sort of hoping you might have forgotten about it," she said as she handed it over to him.

The little girl opened the ship doors and motioned for Rose to enter first.

_Show time_, she thought as she entered the ship.

When she saw the first pillar of switches, she stepped on the edge of her gown and fell against it.

Mr. Baines pulled her away. "You're rather clumsy, Time Lord."

"Can't wait to see how you do in heels, sweetheart," she said with wink.

He growled at her and then shoved her into the main room.

Seeing the body of Mr. Clark still on the ground, she leapt away from his corpse and into the second pillar.

"Afraid?" asked the little girl from behind her.

Rose glanced at her from over her shoulder. "You know out of all your Family members, somehow you come off as the creepiest."

She tilted her head to the side with an unnaturally wide smile. "Thank you."

The Family pushed past her as they moved towards the semi-circle of pipes. Rose scurried out of the way and pressed herself against a third pillar.

"At last dear, Son-of-Mine, you will live forever."

"Even if it is in a woman's body," Mr. Baines said wrinkling his nose.

"Wait a minute," Rose said holding up her hands and moving away from the last set of buttons. "If being in a woman's body is so _distasteful_ to you, why doesn't your sister take me instead?"

She noticed the little girl's brow furrow and turned her attention to her. "You did find me after all. Don't you deserve to be rewarded?"

"You cannot trick us, Time Lord," said Mr. Baines.

"It just doesn't seem fair, does it?" she said keeping her attention on the little girl.

"You will be silent, Time Lord! And –"

The ship's alarm suddenly went off.

"What's happening?" shouted Jenny.

"What have you done?" snarled Mr. Baines.

Before he could touch her, Rose leapt backwards and reached between her breasts for the small bottle of pepper spray. She blasted the Family with it just as the first explosion rocked the shipped. The Family bent over, hands covering their faces as they cried out in rage.

Rose turned. Flames licked up the walls and erupted out from the pipes overhead. Covering her mouth with her hand, she forced herself to ignore the blistering blaze and pushed her way through to the door.

Her eye stung and her lungs burned. She was desperate for some fresh air. When she reached the door, she took off her gloves, balled them up and used them to press against the hot controls. The door opened half-way.

Gritting her teeth, she pressed up against one of the side of the door, crying out as the heat of the metal seared her through her dress, and shimmied out of the ship. She barely had a chance to catch her breath when it exploded.

Rose rocketed into the air and came down hard on her stomach. Stunned and winded, she forgot for a moment that she wasn't the only thing being thrown into the sky. By the time she'd remembered, it was too late.

Turning her head slightly, she could just see the edge of a long sharp piece of metal. It had sliced right through and held her pinned to ground like a butterfly.

She could taste her blood as it bubbled up in the back of her throat. It splattered across the grass as she wheezed and coughed, trying to gasp for air. Her eyes felt heavy and her body no longer ached. She just felt so tired.

Tony was suddenly lying there beside her. For a moment she thought he was staring at something behind her. She wanted to turn to look, but as it was she struggling to keep her eyes open, her chest moving up and down. Her brother looked at her with soft gentle smiled and reached a hand to cover hers.

Rose smiled back. "See you soon," she murmured and then closed her eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Rose screamed.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Martha! Get the –"

Her eyes closed and she drifted back into dark.

* * *

An intense heat shocked her awake. Someone was burning her.

She could feel the erratic thumping of her heart as she tried to lift her arms to stop the pain, but they felt as if they'd been shackled to the bed. All she could do was weakly roll her head to the side and let out a low sobbing moan.

"Just a little bit longer, Rose," she heard someone murmur as they stroked her hair.

Through the slits of her eyes she saw a flickering golden glow like a swarm of fireflies, and remembered a man with a manic grin shouting, "Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives."

She wasn't sure if she hoped he was right or wrong as she slipped back into unconsciousness.

* * *

For a long time she felt cold. She almost wished for that horrible burning heat. Instead, there were slender calloused fingers rubbing up down her legs and massaging her toes. Then they'd switched to her arms and hands, taking extra care with her fingers. Blankets that felt as if they had just been pulled from the heat of the dryer would be draped over her and then tucked tightly around. But still she trembled.

The cold felt as persistent as her constant thirst. She would lick her lips and try to beg for a drink. But they never gave her any liquids, only ice chips which they used to moisten her lips before gently placing them on her tongue. She longed for a cup of tea.

She was tired of feeling so listless, of not being able to do more than groan and twitch her fingers. She wanted to be able to run under the heat of a noon day sun and then drink until her endless thirst was finally quenched. But above all, she wanted to leave this purgatory and _wake up_.

* * *

Rose groaned. There was hammering pain between her eyes. It was the sort of headache she was use to feeling if she'd pushed herself too hard during a mission or had a run-in with a telepath. Raising a hand to rub her forehead, she tried to remember what happened after the Family's ship exploded, but it was like looking at a Jackson Pollock painting – an abstract mess.

Lowering her hand, she slowly opened her eyes letting them adjust to the light until she could focus on the ceiling of the TARDIS med bay. She began to look around and rolled her head to the right. Rose smiled at the sight before her.

The Doctor was at his desk bent over, looking through a microscope. She decided to take a moment to admire his pinstriped bottom. _Martha was right. Those trousers are awfully tight._

"Oh! You're finally awake."

Rose turned her head to the door and saw Martha standing there with two cups of tea. She licked her lips. "Please tell me one of those is for me," she rasped as she pushed herself up.

Two strong, cool hands came up behind her and helped her into a sitting position against the headboard of her bed. Rose turned and looked up into a pair of familiar brown eyes. But there was something off about them. Almost guarded.

"Hello," she said with a wide grin, trying to push the strange feeling away.

"Hello," he said reaching up to brush some of her hair behind her ear. She tilted her head, unconsciously leaning into his touch.

"I'll just um…"

Rose whipped her head towards Martha and immediately regretted the sudden movement. "No, don't leave. Sorry," she said with her eyes squeezed tight and hand against her head. "Wow, I am not doing that again."

The Doctor pressed a hand against her forehead. "Hmm…temperature's normal. Just have a headache?" he asked, slipping his hand to her shoulder. She hummed and nodded her head. "I'll get you some aspirin." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and then turned to rummage through the long row of frosted glass cabinets behind his desk.

Rose looked at Martha, who was now leaning against the counter top in front of her. "See you managed to change him back. Where'd you find the fob watch?"

Martha shook her head. "I didn't." She put her cup of tea down and then pushed herself up onto the counter. "After we left the dance hall, I followed the – John back to the school. We arrived just as they were handing out rifles to the students. Some of the other teachers from the dance had beaten us back and sounded the alarm."

She paused to take a sip of tea to wet her lips. "I wanted to try and stop them, but I had to keep an eye on John. Besides, it wouldn't have done any good if _I_ had tried. It's not liked they'd have listened," she said with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head.

"So, I followed John to his room and found him looking through a sketch book. When I tried to talk to him, he just ignored me and kept looking at that book muttering, 'Impossible, impossible.' That's when one of the students, Timothy Latimer, came in."

Looking down at her mug of tea, Martha began to trace the rim of the cup with her thumb. "He said the watch had called to him, asked him to take it. I didn't understand what he meant. I'd been with that watch for weeks and not a peep. But apparently, he's got an extra…extra –"

"An extra synaptic engram causing him to have a low-level telepathic field. Made it easier to communicate to him," muttered the Doctor as he opened another cupboard door.

Martha nodded her head and licked her lips. "Right, that was the reason I couldn't hear him," she said, looking down into her cup. "Anyway, Tim and I tried to get John to understand who he really was, and why he needed to change back into the Doctor. But of course he didn't believe us." Martha snorted. "Who would?"

She took another sip of tea and then continued, "In the end, Tim forced John to hold the watch. And it worked," she said with a disbelieving shake of her head. "John just stared at it for a few moments, and then opened it. Just in time too." Martha looked at Rose with wide eyes. "I swear the whole town shook from that explosion," she said, her voice mix of awe and terror. "After that it was a mad dash back to the TARDIS and quick hop to Cooper's field to get you." She paused and gave the Doctor a quick glance before turning back to Rose. "That's pretty much it really," she said, taking another sip of tea. "These past three days we've just been floating in the Vortex."

"Three days?" Rose muttered to herself in shock. She looked up at Martha. "From what I remember, there was a large piece of metal in me," she said, wiggling toes and flexing her feet. She was surprised that she only felt a slight ache from too much bed rest. In fact, aside from her headache and a little stiffness, she didn't feel that bad at all. "How'd you fix me up?"

"With nanogenes," the Doctor said as he came up beside her, and handed her a glass of water and two aspirin. Rose shivered as his fingers caressed hers, and glanced up at him from beneath her lashes. She noted that he still had that same closed look.

"You kept those?" she asked and then popped the pills into her mouth.

"Of course. Couldn't leave them there for some other idiot to find, now could I?" he said taking her glass and putting it down on the table by her bed. "So I added them to the med bay system. Good thing too because the damage was…was pretty extensive," he said as he turned away to get his mug of tea by Martha.

"You're lucky though." She swore she could hear a hitch in his voice as she watched how his muscles tensed when Martha tried to place a comforting hand on his arm. "The edge of the metal sheath was blunt so it pushed right through and didn't pierce any of your organs. Made it easier for the nanogenes to fix you up," he said, turning back to face her.

Rose frowned. "Then why was I out for so long?"

He swallowed and shifted from foot to foot. "Blood loss," he said, fidgeting with his mug. "You were suffering from hypovolemic shock. The nanogenes may have been able to repair the tissue but they couldn't replace all the…all the..." He paused and cleared his throat. "I had to give you quite a bit of Alzarian fluids. Impossible to find outside of E-space, but it's brilliant for being able to adapt to a new environment. The only true universal blood type you'll ever find. And it has the added bonus of helping a person heal a lot faster. Well, not as quick as me," he said rubbing his eye. "But it does a decent enough job."

Rose raised an eyebrow. The Doctor always tugged his ear when boasting about his superior physiology. Rubbing his eye was something he did when he was irritated.

Looking down at her lap, she thought about how he found her; covered in blood and close to death. If she had been in his position, she'd be angry too, especially if she was the one to blame for putting him in that danger. Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. It was quickly becoming apparent they were not going to have the happy reunion talk she'd hoped for.

"Yeah, you're right. I do feel pretty good," she said, lowering her hand and raising her head. "Apart from needing a really good stretch, I think I'm ready to get out of this bed."

She threw back the covers and slowly slid her legs over the side of the bed. The Doctor was suddenly there before her, arms out ready to catch her. She placed her hands on his forearms and braced herself against him as she cautiously stood up.

"There we go," she said letting go of the Doctor and taking a few steps. "Perfectly fine."

The Doctor hovered beside her for a moment, arms at the ready. So Rose gave him few little hops, one on each foot and once together, to show she really was all right. Satisfied that she wasn't going to keel over, he went to fetch her dressing gown off the hook by the bathroom door.

She was twisting and turning trying to loosen her muscles when he came up behind her with her robe and helped her in to it. She gave him her best smile, but the Doctor just nodded tersely in return.

With a sigh, she looked over to Martha. "Do you happen to know where my carpet bag is? It should have some spare clothes in it, and I'd really love to have a shower," she said, pointing a thumb to the en suite door behind her.

"Yeah, think I saw it back in the console room." Martha looked between Rose and the Doctor before hopping off the counter. "I'll go get it for you."

She watched Martha leave and then turned to the Doctor. "So did Martha tell you that I'm –"

"What were you thinking?" the Doctor snapped, his whole body seeming to vibrate with anger. "You could have died, Rose! You're not immortal and you're not like me. You wouldn't have come back."

"Well that answers that question," she said with a roll of her eyes.

The Doctor let out a low frustrated growl and turned to walk back to the counter.

"Oi! Don't you turn your back on me, mister!" Rose followed him and poked him between his shoulder blades until he finally turned around again.

"I was trying to fix your mess." He tried to duck his head but Rose just tipped it back up. "What I want to know is what _you_ were thinking?" she said pressing a finger to his chest. "I get that you wanted to let the Family live out their lives, but why didn't you leave them stranded on an asteroid to do it? Why hide and endanger those people and Martha?" she asked with hands on hips.

"You don't understand. I didn't have time and it was the simplest solution," he said ruffling his hair and trying to turn away. But Rose placed her hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"You should have at least kept your memories. Did you even think about how hard it would be for Martha to convince an Edwardian man that he was a time travelling alien?"

"A human can't handle a Time Lord mind," he said, hands clenched at his side as he moved closer to her until they stood toe-to-toe. Rose raised her head refusing to be intimidated by him. "They would burn if they tried. I had to completely rewrite my DNA to hide properly." He loomed over her. "And I had a plan. A plan that would have worked it _you_ hadn't interfered."

She straightened her back and leaned closer to him. They were like two wolves snarling at each other, neither willing to given an inch. "Oh really? Because I'm pretty sure you were still stuck in that _bloody_ watch when the Family started shooting people!"

"Timothy was supposed to have used that watch as a distraction, but you messed everything up!"

"Timothy? Oh yeah, that was another brilliant move on your part! Disappearing right when we needed you! Martha spent the whole day trying to find that thing."

"And you got to spend the day with _John Smith_," he snarled.

"Don't pull that jealousy act with me, Doctor. I had to stick close in case that bumbling ape got himself into any trouble."

"He would have been fine if you weren't there! Hell, it's probably because of your incompetence that the Family decided to stick around."

"My incompetence?" she shrieked.

"Martha told me about your little reconnaissance mission and how you ended up meeting one of them. You might as well have just walked right up to them and said, 'We're here.' Oh wait, you did!"

"I had to go on that ship. It's not like you left Martha with any proper instructions. Pears? Who cares if you don't like pears?" she said, tossing her hands up.

"I do!" he snarled.

"She needed tactical information."

"Oh that is so very _Torchwood_."

"I was Torchwood!" she said clenching her hands into fists. "For years that's all I knew. And I saved a hell of a lot people, including most of those villagers, because of it."

"At the risk to yourself, Rose! You nearly died!"

Stunned, Rose stepped back. "Is that what this is about?"

"Of course it is," he snapped, and then sighed and leaned back against the counter. "I didn't even know you there until Tim entered the dance hall."

"Not even when I was with John Smith?"

The Doctor shook his head. "When he was in the same room as the watch, I'd get snatches of what he was thinking. But I…I didn't believe it. And before that, you were never in the same room as me. You being here should be impossible, Rose." He looked up at her, eyes sad and remorseful. "I tried everything I could –"

She pressed her fingers to his lips. "I know. My way wasn't exactly..."

"Safe?"

"It was better than the alternative," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

The Doctor clenched his jaw. "Did they –"

"No, nothing happened. As long as Pete or Tony, my brother, were in charge I was safe. It was only after they were gone when things became...uncomfortable."

The Doctor gave her a searching look. "What do you know about your condition?"

She took a step back from him and fiddled with her dressing gown. "One scientist said it was if I had bathed in the fountain of youth. My cells were reproducing perfect replicas every time."

"Not a bad description, but not quite right. They can still alter from time to time; still have the same wear and tear that's common to every species, but they're just not doing it as often as before. It's like the tortoise and the hare." He paused, brow furrowed. "Wait. No. Yes. No." He waved his hands in a dismissive manner. "Forget the tortoise and the hare bad comparison. But it is like a race. Compared to us, humans are sprinting towards death, but you and I are only take step every hundred years."

"So I'm still aging, but at a slower rate."

"Yep," he said popping his 'p'.

"How long do you think I'll live for?"

"If you don't go blowing yourself up?" he said, raising an eyebrow. Rose glowered in response. "Quite a few millennia."

"And…" She cleared her throat as her cheeks flushed. "And how long will you live for?"

"Well that depends, really, on whether or not I regenerate," he said, rubbing his hand along his jaw. "One Time Lord estimated our bodies could last for about ten thousand years before we'd need a new one. But I'm _very_ bad at keeping them that long."

"Am I…" She wetted her lips. "Am I still human?" she asked with a quiver in her voice.

"Oh, Rose." He gathered her in his arms and she pressed her nose to the crook of his neck, breathing in the familiar scent of honey and bergamot. "You are," he whispered against the shell of her ear.

"They said I wasn't," she croaked, trying to hold back her tears. "They said –"

He pulled back and cupped her cheeks. "Rose, I know I don't say this very often, but I am _very_ intelligent. Probably the smartest being in this and any other universe. "

Covering his hands with hers, Rose let out a soft breathy laugh. "And so modest too."

He gave her a warm tender smile, the one she'd been longing to see since she'd woken up. "So believe me when I say, you are human in all the ways that matter."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Good. I was worried I might end up like Cassandra," she said with a wide grin as she let go of his wrists and started fiddling with the lapels of his jacket.

He let out a bark of laughter as he moved his hands down to her shoulders. "As long as you're with me, Rose Tyler, I promise that will never happen."

Nervously she licked her lips. "And…and how long will that be? How long are you going to stay with me?"

The Doctor smiled as he slid his hands towards the nap of neck, gently tilting her head up. "Forever," he murmured as he tentatively leaned down and brushed his lips with hers. Slowly and gently they explored each other's lips from corner to corner. And then Rose sucked on his bottom lip, and the tempo of their kisses changed to hungry and hard; to open mouths and low moans.

Rose was fumbling with the buttons of the Doctor's jacket and he (mouth at her throat using tongue and teeth against the tendons of her neck) was just about to push her bathrobe off when Martha came back in.

"Oh, my god!" she shrieked, dropping the carpet bag.

Abruptly, the pair pushed apart and tried to straighten themselves out.

"Martha! What a surprise!" the Doctor said, trying to hid his embarrassment with over exuberance. Rose just shook her head at him.

"I'll say," Martha said, looking back and forth between the two of them. "I thought the halls were longer and now I know why."

"Not long enough," the Doctor muttered as he tugged at the sleeves of his jacket.

Rose elbowed the Doctor sharply in the ribs. "Sorry about that, Martha. It wasn't…that is it–" Suddenly realizing she couldn't say anything to make this better for Martha without deeming what had passed between her the Doctor, she decided to change tactics. "What do you say we all go for some chips? And then Martha can decide how she wants to be rewarded for putting up with you for two months."

"Putting up with –" He snapped his mouth shut when he saw Rose's scowl.

"Don't think you're getting away with that maid nonsense," she said, shaking her finger at him. She looked over her shoulder to Martha. "What do you say? Chips? Unless you want something else?"

"No, chips are fine," she sighed.

With a disgruntled look, the Doctor left to set-in the coordinates, muttering about female companions talking and laughing behind his back.

Rose turned to Martha and saw her shoulders were curved and her head was down. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," she said tonelessly.

"No it's not, but I'm still sorry you're hurt." She went over to Martha and placed a hand on her arm. "Look, we haven't really had a chance to talk properly and I know it's not really my place to say, but please don't make any rash decisions. You said it yourself, Martha, this life is mad but brilliant. And who knows maybe we'll find a way to make it all work."

"I don't think so," she said, shaking her head.

Rose sighed, accepting Martha's decision. "Well, at least make him take you to a resort planet before you go. You deserve that much."

"Any ideas?" Martha asked as she looked up, a hint of smile returning to her lips.

"We'll discuss it over…err…what meal is this?" Rose asked, looking around for a clock.

"My sleeping schedules been a bit off, but I think it's lunch," Martha said, looking around as well.

The caught each other's eye and snorted with laughter.

"Never a clock or watch when need one," Martha said, rolling her eyes. "I think we'll just have to agree on it." Martha held out her hand.

With a smile, Rose shook it and then picked up her carpet bag. "I'm just going to shower and change. I'll meet up with you in the console room."

"Yeah, all right," Martha said with her head held high. "See you in a bit."

* * *

Rose entered the console room just as they landed with a thump. The Doctor looked over at her with a wide grin and wiggled his fingers. She hurried to him and slipped her hand against his, feeling a bit like Goldilocks, as their fingers entwined and everything fit just right. They grinned at each other as they walked towards the TARDIS doors.

"Great driving, Doctor," Martha said with biting sarcasm as she stepped out of the TARDIS. "We're in the middle of someone's yard."

The garden they'd landed in was overgrown with weeds, and dried up patches of grass. Large weeping willows and tall evergreens created a shadowy barrier around an old stone Victorian house.

"I don't think they'll mind," the Doctor said, tugging his ear. "This place hasn't been used in years. Well, not by anyone human, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, eyeing up the boarded up windows and creeping vines.

"There's something odd about this place," the Doctor said, furrowing his brow. He looked back at the TARDIS and placed a hand the side of his ship. "You feel it too, eh, old girl?"

"Should we check it out?" Martha asked, starting to edge closer to the building.

The Doctor hummed and then tugged Rose's hand so she turned to face him. "No wondering off," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," she said, giving him a cheeky salute.

"Ooh, I like that. Don't normally, but coming from you…" he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Give over," she said with a tongue-in-teeth smile, shoving her shoulder against his.

They walked to the front door and the Doctor whipped out his sonic screw driver. Reluctantly, he let go of Rose's hand so he could open the door.

Cautiously, they stepped inside. The air was musty from wet rotting wood and leaves that had been blown in from between the cracks of the boarded up windows. There was a flight of stairs in front of them and narrow hall behind leading to several darken rooms.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Martha asked.

"I'm not sure," the Doctor said as he adjusted the settings on his screwdriver. "Time just feels funny around here. Like someone's been poking holes."

Rose gripped his arm. "What do you mean holes?"

"No, not that way," he said as he quickly and impulsively leaned over to kiss her brow.

"So we're just looking for something alien?" asked Martha who'd walked a little further ahead of them. "Well, there are lot of rooms here. Maybe we should split up."

"No, I –"

Rose slapped a hand over the Doctor's mouth. "Yes, all right," she said, understanding Martha's need for a little space. "Why don't you and the Doctor look around down here, and I'll head upstairs."

Martha nodded her head and then disappeared into a nearby room.

"I'm pretty sure this counts as wondering off," the Doctor grumbled.

"I'll scream if I need you," Rose said with cheeky smile, and then, before she could think about it, kissed him on the cheek.

She turned to head up the stairs, but the Doctor reached out and stopped her. "You will be careful, won't you?"

"Yes, of course," she said with a smile and then, because she could, kissed him on the nose.

She was about to turn away again when…"Rose?"

"Yes, Doctor?" she said with breathy laugh.

"Promise me you'll be extra careful."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I promise. Is there something else you wanted?"

His eyes slipped down to her lips and then back up. The look in his dark eyes made her toes curl and her cheeks turn red. Unconsciously, she mimicked him as he wet his lips. They began to lean towards each other.

"Doctor?" Martha called from a room down the hall. "Doctor, come quick! I think you need to see this statue."

With a groan, they pulled away. "I should," the Doctor said pointing down the hall.

"Yeah," she said, nodding her head and giving him one last smile.

Rose finally turned around and went up the stairs.

There were four rooms off the landing and one rather large linen cupboard. She carefully made her way to the closest room and peeked inside.

It looked as if it had once been a little girl's bedroom; an old wrought iron bed, dressing table with a large oval mirror, and porcelain dolls lined up on bench. Everything in the room seemed to fit – except for the large stone statue of an angel covering its face.

She was about to take a closer look when she heard the Doctor shout. Rushing to the top of the stairs, she peered over the banister.

"Doctor? Martha?" she yelled. "Doc –" Suddenly the air was knocked from her lungs, and she felt as if she was being squeezed through a tight and narrow chasm.

She popped out in the middle of a cow field by an old oak tree. Travelling with a vortex manipulator was usually pretty rough, but that trip had left her head spinning. She sat down by the tree and closed her eyes, trying to ease down the slight nausea she felt. She hoped the Doctor and Martha were all right and together. She had feeling that whatever had jumped her wasn't likely to send all its victims to the same place.

Looking around and seeing nothing but fields and cows, Rose bit her lip and wondered why the creature would send her to the countryside.

She turned her head when she heard a car come up along the nearby dirt road and then slow to a stop. Thanks to Mickey, she could recognize quite a few British classics and this one looked like an Austin 7 Chummy. She desperately hoped that the driver was just a car enthusiast because that Baby Austin looked brand new.

The driver stepped out and Rose suddenly felt very grateful she was still on the ground.

_Bugger_, she thought as she threw head back against the rough bark of the tree. She'd never been trapped this far in the past before without a mode of transport.

She eyed the man coming towards her. He didn't walk so much as marched like someone used to being in the military; shoulders back, head high, arms swinging in time to the beat of a drum. She squinted her eyes. _It couldn't be him_.

He was taller than she remembered, and there was hardness to him that, when she had last seen him three days ago, hadn't been there before. This man was not the shy botanist she'd left in Farringham. He had the look of a man who'd been through hell and back, and yet his smile was still as sweet as she remembered.

"Mr. Gardner," she said looking up at him as he neared. "What a pleasant surprise."

"A surprise perhaps for you, ma'am," he said doffing his cap to her. "But I was given prior notice." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a letter.

"Does this mean you already know about me?" she asked, taking the letter from him and unfolding it. They were directions written in her hand.

"About your travels?"

She hummed and nodded her head as she tucked the letter away.

"Yes, ma'am. Her ladyship, the Baroness of Croft, explained it all to me," he said, helping her up.

"Nancy? Oh well this gets better and better." She glanced at him. "But how do you know her?"

"After the war, I left my parents farm and started looking for work. But no one seemed to have anything. Then a letter came from the Baroness, asking me to come visit her. She said a friend of hers had recommended me to her. Said I would be good as a driver or a gardener. So she took me on as her driver, but if I have no work, I'm allowed to help with the gardens." He smiled down at Rose. "Thank you."

"But I haven't done anything, Mr. Gardner."

"Not yet."

"Does time travel…the way I live…does it bother you?" she asked as they began to walk back towards the car.

"No, ma'am. I may not understand it all. But I remember you, and how you saved my village from those creatures, those aliens," he said with scowl.

"I'm sorry about your Uncle," she said placing a hand on his arm. "But by then, there was nothing I could have done to save him."

"I don't blame you," he said covering her hand with his and looking down at her with a tender smile. "You helped save so many that day. And I..." He let go of her hand, turning his head away as his cheeks turned red. "I'm glad you're alive," he said.

Rose squeezed his arm. "I'm glad you're alive, too," she said, letting go of his arm and clasping her hands behind her back.

When they got to the car, Mr. Gardner opened the passenger door for her. But before she could move past him to take a seat, he reached inside.

"I almost forgot. I was asked to give you these."

He handed her a newspaper, which she noted was dated July 1, 1926, and a book, _The Murder of Roger Ackroyd _by Agatha Christie.

She put the newspaper down and turned the book in her hands. _Why would I give myself this, unless… _She smiled. _He does love historical figures, especially authors._

"Do you like her work, Mr. Gardner?" she asked as she took her seat.

"Mrs. Christie? Yes, I do, ma'am," he said, closing the door and then walking around to the driver's side.

"Ever meet her?" she asked once he was settled behind the wheel.

He let out a small laugh. "No never. I don't exactly travel in the same circles as her."

"Well, you soon will be."

"I will?" he said in disbelief as he pulled the car onto the road.

"After I visit with Nancy, you and I are going to find Mrs. Agatha Christie. She's my ticket home," she said, smiling at him.

"Does this mean we'll be dealing with aliens again, ma'am?" Mr. Gardner groaned.

Rose let out a bark of laughter. "I hope so, Mr. Gardner," she said, turning her head to look out the window. "I certainly hope so."

* * *

_Finally done! Thank you all for sticking with me! And totally feel free to yell at me. __As always special thanks to my beta who made this story ten times better! ^_^_


	6. Afterword - A note from me

Afterword

Just to let you all know (since quite a few of you have asked this), YES there will be sequel. I'm working out the plot for it now.

Thank you all again for following and reviewing! ^_^


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